How Hal Ebbott’s ‘Among Friends,’ explores the fracturing of a relationship

$How Hal Ebbott’s ‘Among Friends,’ explores the fracturing of a relationship$

At the opening of Hal Ebbott’s debut novel, “Among Friends,” Amos, his wife Claire, and their daughter Anna go to visit Amos’s best friend Emerson, his wife Retsy, and their daughter Sophie. It’s the kind of visit that has been going on for decades, since Amos and Emerson have been pals since college (and Emerson introduced Amos to Claire, a childhood friend).

At first, the book is about Amos and Emerson’s friendship, and then it’s about what happens when one does something heinous that threatens to ruin it all. But ultimately, it’s about entitlement and privilege and the way people’s values can warp as they try to hold on to what they have. And it’s about how those without power suffer in those situations, when the truth might get buried for the sake of convenience.