December 2022

Amanda Eyre Ward draws her latest work of domestic suspense, THE LIFEGUARDS, from a time of life that many of us know well --- when your friends are the parents of your children’s friends.

Here we have three women --- suburban moms Liza, Whitney and Annette --- who live in Austin’s Zilker Park neighborhood. Their boys --- Charlie, Xavier and Bobcat (Robert) --- are close friends and lifeguards at the same pool. These Three Musketeers, as they refer to themselves, are finally off on their own, or at least their version of this. Their moms hang out enjoying margaritas and conversation. Life is placid and good until one night when the boys ride their bikes to where their moms are drinking. While they were hanging out at one of Zilker Park’s watering holes, they found the body of a young woman. They are quick to note that they have no idea who she is. But something sounds just a bit fishy here.

The moms then put up guards and quickly back the boys’ convictions about what happened. But then the façade starts to crack, and the women turn on each other --- and the boys --- to be sure that “their son” is not the one who was at all involved. The police are on to more than these moms want to think that they know. And from there, it’s every mom and boy for themselves. Who else “could have done this” and had something that they wanted hidden?

The book is written from the perspectives of the women, their sons, the detectives on the case, and the neighborhood Facebook group where the chatter can spread both news and rumors fast. The twists are there, along with the gossip and, finally, the battered “truth.”