Vic and Mindy Rablelard are neighbors and longtime friends of Becka and Hugh Chase. Vic and Hugh work in the paper industry for different companies. Vic is actually the partner of Becka’s first husband, Richard Ostell. Becka and Richard’s twenty-something son, Tony, lives with Becka and Hugh.

Vic, Becka, Richard and Hugh are all graduates of Mellingham High School’s Class of ‘69. The Class is reuniting to celebrate twenty-five years of surviving high school. Everyone has an agenda and it’s not necessarily to party. Eliot Keogh, a paper salesman, wants to know who sent his father to prison by ratting on him and forcing Eliot’s family to move out of town.

After Vic’s wife Mindy disappears and Becka discovers Vic’s comatose body in the Rabelard’s home, Mellingham’s Police Chief Joe Silva is called in to find out what is really going on with the classmates, friends, and neighbors of the Class of ‘69.

Friends and Enemies is full of misdirection and lots of red herrings, which I liked. However, I must admit that the paper industry doesn’t generate a lot of excitement for me.

At times, the storyline seems nicely intricate and at times it seems a little overly intricate. Although the destination this book takes is, for me, a little too farfetched, I did appreciate the journey and the basic premise and style of Friends and Enemies.

--Judith Flavell