YOU'RE INVITED

When a Sri Lankan woman now living in LA learns that her former best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend, she will do anything to stop the wedding.

Amaya Bloom exercises complete control over her life while also looking to number symbolism to guide most of her actions and decisions. When she learns, via Instagram, that her former best friend, Kaavindi Fonseka, a glamorous influencer who runs a successful charity, is engaged to marry Amaya’s ex-boyfriend Matthew Spencer, and when an invitation to the wedding arrives, this could be Amaya’s chance to bury the hatchet—literally. For Amaya will fly back to Sri Lanka to attend the days of wedding festivities with a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C in hand, determined not to let Kaavi and Spencer tie the knot. The novel actually begins on the day of the ceremony, when it seems like Kaavi has been attacked in her hotel room and is now missing. Jayatissa then provides Amaya’s story, beginning at that same time but also flashing back to three months earlier, when the engagement is announced. Then it does the same for Kaavi, interspersing various “interview transcripts” from friends and family members as Kaavi’s disappearance is investigated. The twists, after they are revealed, may feel a little familiar to readers of thrillers, but the pacing is expert; in the moment, each is surprising and creates a need to recalibrate what is known about these characters. In addition to offering unapologetically strong, vividly imperfect female characters, the novel offers commentary on social privilege in Sri Lanka and on the gaudy, illusion-filled world of social media influencers.

Crazy Rich Asians meets Gone Girl with a mostly all-female cast.