Madeline, Celeste and Jane are three friends whose children are in the same kindergarten class in an idyllic small coastal town. But right on the very first day, things go awry and the three mothers find themselves up against Renata, a working mother, and her friend’s circle. On the surface, the parent group has all the standard cliques: stay-at-home moms, do-gooders, helicopter parents, parents who think their brats are exceptional.
As we get to know more about the three friends and their efforts to navigate the school parents’ politics, it is revealed that their perfect seeming lives aren’t that perfect. Jane is a sexual assault survivor, Celeste suffers from severe domestic abuse and Madeline is struggling to deal with her teen daughter having a relationship with her birth father. On the very first day, Jane’s child is accused of bullying; Jane stands up for her child, while other parents start a petition to have him expelled.
The base narrative is interspersed with testimony given by various people to the police after a murder, or some unnatural death, which happens at a school event. The nature of the death itself is not revealed, but what is revealed is that all the petty disagreements between the parents comes to a boil towards that fateful day: the day of the school’s Audrey and Elvis-themed trivia night.
The book is thoroughly captivating; the story is well-paced, and the plot is brilliant in both structure and tone. It is a spectacular schievement to have a book that deals with sexual assuault, domestic abuse, abandonment and bullying, that is absolutely hilarious and laugh-out-loud funny. The suspense is built up gradually and keeps us guessing until the very end.