The author of the bestselling novel The Party—lauded as “tense and riveting” by New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda—returns using a chilling new local drama about two women whose deep friendship is threatened by dark, long-buried secrets.

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to remain afloat.

A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she had hoped that your day he got accepted in to the elite Forrester Academy will be the day she started living her lifestyle. Overweight, about Her Pretty Encounter insecure, and unhappy, she is desperate to fit into the Forrester world. But after a disturbing incident at the institution leads the additional children and their own families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels even more alone than previously.

Until she meets Kate Randolph.

Kate is everything Frances isn’t: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not thinking about being close friends with the various other Forrester moms—just Frances. As the two connection over their disdain of the Forrester snobs as well as the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling key threatens to rip them apart—among these women is not who she appears. Her true name is certainly Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.

“Robyn Harding’s Her Pretty Encounter is a fierce and blazing one-sitting read that will make you question even your closest friendships” (Carter Wilson, USA TODAY bestselling author) and is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lays and Lisa Jewell’s Then She Was Gone.