A Common Loss
Kirsten Tranter
Copyright 2012
ISBN 978-1-4391-7722-8

Five young men meet in college, become fast friends, and remain so long after graduation, having now become established in their careers.  They make an annual trip to Las Vegas, and in this tenth year for the first time one of the friends is missing.  Dylan, who was always there to bail one or the other out of trouble, has died; and their first trip after his death is anticipated in his memory.  But as the four get together in Vegas, blackmail rears its ugly head, as it seems their dearest friend with whom each has shared a potentially deadly secret has documented those secrets and bequeathed them to a brother none of them knew that he had until recently.

In much the style of stream of consciousness, Elliot West, now a college professor is the narrator.  He learns from his sister Dylan’s secret:  Dylan was adopted.  Cameron, now a lawyer and Brian have always seemed to have a problem with each other.  Trellis, the last member of the group, has made the trip all the way from London.

Well written and quite suspenseful, A Common Loss is “An intimate character study of friendship and deceit set against the American paean to false appearances.”—Publishers Weekly