Forget You Know Me is the latest from Jessica Strawser, author of 2017’s Almost Missed You and 2018’s Not That I Could Tell. I gave both of these a qualified five stars, so I am clearly a fan – which meant I jumped at the chance to have a copy of FYKM from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Once again, it’s described as “women’s fiction.” AARRGGHH. As I noted in one of my reviews of Ms. Strawser’s books, that is “a term I hate, and not to be confused with “chick lit,” which I hate even more.” So, let’s just accept it and move on, talking about a book that focuses on women, friendship, relationship – oh, wait! Maybe THAT is what they mean by “women’s fiction.”

Anyway, this time around, we have two female protagonists. Molly is a wife and mother, and she spends much of her time dealing with her chronic pain and her children, leaving her husband somewhat neglected. She and her kids have been getting friendly with their neighbors, a single dad with his son. She has also been growing apart from her BFF Liza, who moved from Cincinnati to Chicago two years ago – not worlds apart, but far enough that, combined with Molly’s domestic focus and Liza’s career focus, has resulted in them losing the day-to-day intimacy they had shared forever.

So, one night Molly’s husband Daniel is out of town and she and Liza are Skyping.  Molly steps away from her laptop to check on the kids, leaving the laptop open. Liza sees a scary-looking figure of someone dressed in black coming in the back door. She freaks and yells at him, causing him to freak and shut the laptop, breaking the connection. Liza can’t get ahold of Molly, so she races off to check on Molly, dragging along her gay friend (think Rupert Everett and Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding). When they arrive, Molly pretty much slams the door on them, leaving Liza to think “WTF?” obsessively, and Molly to continue with her ton of issues.

This weird event sets off a whole string of events that I, as a “never spoiler,” cannot reveal, but just know that it is COMPLICATED and suspenseful. The mystery is entertaining in itself, but the more interesting part (for me) is the way it is a deep look at how time and distance affect friendship and marriage.

PLOT and CHARACTER: Jessica Strawser has a day job as Editorial Director at Writer’s Digest, and she is a master at plot development. I also wonder whether she has a terrific imagination or has had lots of weird situations in her own life. In any case, it’s amazing how many potential suspects there are for the “who was that man?” mystery surrounding the Skype event. And the two women, despite their apparent fight, are more than one-dimensional as Liza suffers from a big dose of anxiety just as Molly deals with her physical pain.

I’m giving this one five stars, just to be consistent with my reviews of Ms. Strawser’s previous books, but admittedly have always been a somewhat easy grader! Be aware that Jessica Strawser has done it again: this is excellent ENTERTAINMENT (women’s fiction, remember?), and not literature.