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Reviewed by Carol Thompson for Readers' Favorite
A Dangerous Friendship by Robin Merle is a novel about grief, obsession, and the strange hunger for connection after loss. The narrator, Tina, begins the story in emotional turmoil, newly divorced and exhausted by a series of endings. Seeking distraction and a reset, she throws herself into small, risky adventures around New York before escaping to a quirky writers’ colony in New Hampshire. There, she meets Spike, a magnetic and volatile woman whose presence feels immediately fated. Spike is witty, intense, and unpredictable, offering Tina both companionship and a doorway into a more reckless version of life. Their bond forms quickly through stories, late-night conversations, and shared performances of bravado, yet it has an undercurrent of danger. As Tina becomes more enthralled, she also begins to question what is true about Spike and what is illusion, realizing that intimacy can blur into fixation.
Robin Merle’s writing is sharp and darkly funny, with sentences that capture the narrator’s vulnerability and keen observational wit. The pacing unfolds in quick, vivid scenes, often built around charged dialogue and surreal social encounters, giving the narrative a dreamlike momentum. Spike’s voice, in particular, crackles with energy, and the author excels at portraying the push and pull of obsessive attachment, where affection and manipulation can be hard to separate. The atmosphere is slightly fevered, drawing readers into Tina’s inner monologue as she tries to make sense of longing, power, and emotional risk. Readers who enjoy character-driven psychological fiction, stories about complicated female bonds, and novels that explore the thin line between fascination and self-destruction will find A Dangerous Friendship especially compelling.
