The present day is Oct. 2016. Amid the references to the presidential election taking place and women pushing back against "locker room talk" and "boys will be boys" as excuses for the behavior of powerful, fully grown men, Senator Mabrey is accused of rape days before his own election.

*flashback*
College roommates Lauren & Megan have wildly different backgrounds: Lauren is the youngest daughter of a wealthy Connecticut state senator, soon to be US senator, and Megan is an only child from Kansas who inherits an insurance payout after her father dies and chooses to spend it at on an all-girls school in CT. They each keep their secrets to themselves despite a quick, burgeoning friendship after they've been reassigned to the same dorm when each of their original roommates leave the school.

The novel goes on to cover a lot of ground. The 19-year-olds become 34-year-olds who've lost touch and as you read on it slowly becomes clear what drove the best friends apart.

Although certainly tedious at times relaying details of a date or parental conversation or descriptions of Lauren's amateur photographs, which all get in the way of what really happened. I take issue with the timeline here, starting with the "big event" instead of naturally approaching the drama at the end after the several hundred page lead-up, but the actual writing was quite good and kept me interested. Though do go read the print or ebook, not the audio.