Nora Murphy’s debut novel, THE FAVOR, will make readers think of Patricia Highsmith’s classic, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, which inspired the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. The opening page is a stunner, featuring an anonymous female driving away from the scene of a shooting. Your patience will be rewarded as the book quickly dives into the twin narratives of lawyer Leah Dawson and pediatrician McKenna Hawkins.

Early on, we watch through Leah’s eyes as she follows McKenna around a liquor store and parks right outside her lovely suburban home. She observes McKenna and a couple of friends enjoy a bottle of wine on what looks like a brand-new patio with a built-in fire pit. McKenna seems happy, but then her demeanor immediately changes when her husband, Zack, comes home. Although she has never met or spoken to McKenna, Leah has noticed enough in their extremely strained relationship to make instant comparisons to the downward spiral of her own marriage to her abusive spouse, Liam.

"... a psychological thrill ride that will have you glued to your chair as these two complete strangers will be bound by blood and seeking to evade a clever detective who keeps getting closer and closer to tying up all the loose ends."

We learn from McKenna’s point of view that Zack, a psychiatrist, is overly protective of her and obsessed with their new home. More than anything else, he wants a child. When McKenna has a miscarriage, he goes crazy, blaming it on her job and lifestyle. Taking it very personally, he forbids her from working again and restricts her to a sort of imprisonment in their house where she will only work on getting pregnant. When she fakes a pregnancy and he finds out, Zack beats her badly --- all of which is witnessed from afar by McKenna’s unknown new ally.

Just when McKenna feels that she has no one outside of her brother she can confide in, something completely unexpected happens. One night, after Zack returns home late from work and is berating his wife about an overcooked dinner, a shot is fired through their open kitchen window, catching him in the head and killing him instantly. It is then that Leah, dressed in a raincoat with a hoodie, first appears to a stunned McKenna. Leah encourages McKenna to keep this incident between them, indicating in her own way that she has now been freed. McKenna calls the police anyway, knowing she is completely innocent of any crime.

Detective Jordan Harrison has to determine if a patient of Zack's or someone else in his life had it in for him. However, he just can’t shake the feeling that something might be going on with McKenna, especially when he finds out about the difficulties the couple experienced in having a baby.

The novel becomes even more intriguing once McKenna decides that she needs to figure out who this “savior” of hers is. Once she starts to trail Leah back to her home and learns that her marriage mirrors her own in many ways, she sees the opportunity to return the favor. When that happens, all I can say is that you better hang on for a psychological thrill ride that will have you glued to your chair as these two complete strangers will be bound by blood and seeking to evade a clever detective who keeps getting closer and closer to tying up all the loose ends.

Nora Murphy has indicated that her experience in the practice of family law and legal studies opened her eyes to the plight of women suffering from domestic abuse. While many do not seek the avenues that Leah and McKenna take in THE FAVOR, it still provides a great impetus for her first novel. I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next.