review: the best of us by sarah pekkanen

After attending the University of Virginia where he met Tina (and her now husband), Allie (and her now husband), and Savannah, Dwight made a bunch of money when he smartly cashed out before the dot com crash. For his 35th birthday, Dwight’s wife Pauline (an outsider to the group) decides to use some of that money to take his college friends and their spouses on an all-expenses paid trip to Jamaica. It was supposed to be all couples, but Savannah and her cheating husband (another outsider) have recently split unbeknownst to the group. Having a newly single woman with the group immediately throws things off-balance with both Pauline and Tina showing their insecurities. Tensions run high as they spend time together for the first time since college and matters get worse when first Pauline must briefly leave to deal with a crisis back home and then Hurricane Betty hits right after Savannah’s estranged husband arrives.

The Best of Us was unfortunately not Sarah Pekkanen’s best. I struggled to find a likable character in the group. The women were pretty wretched and the men weren’t much better. The only character I could muster any sympathy for was Allie’s milquetoast husband Ryan. There’s also not much going on plot-wise which was ok since the insights into these relationships seemed enough until Pekkanen tried to force some high drama by introducing a hurricane.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Washington Square Press.