Liddy is a memorable character who could easily appear again as The New and Improved Liddy James in Casey’s next novel....
A powerful divorce attorney, Liddy James races through life under a shiny veneer of confidence that covers her loneliness and insecurity.
Liddy was living a five-star existence in New York City with her son, Matty, and husband, Peter, until her once-happy marriage hit a roadblock and a rare spontaneous move on her part brought it to a close. She accepted the divorce with equanimity and now aims to coexist peaceably with her angry, vindictive ex and his girlfriend, Rose, as they co-parent teenage Matty. Now 40-something and known for her Liddy-ishness—a combination of cool, calm, collectedness—she juggles too many balls and watches in dismay as they pelt to the ground in an embarrassing public episode. When her story begins trending on social media, she flees for a summer abroad in the Irish countryside where she’d grown up (and which she'd once been so determined to leave). Her retreat is not without its problems, but Liddy finds her roots and begins the journey to heal her spirit. Casey (No One Could Have Guessed the Weather, 2013) paces the story slowly at first, then more and more briskly as Liddy crumbles. She reveals back story by gently pressing missing puzzle pieces into place. It’s an energetic novel; Liddy’s self-deprecating humor makes for chuckles in even the toughest situations. And while Liddy is clearly the protagonist, other characters have interesting triumphs and tribulations as well. There will be lots of opportunities to guess where this tale is leading, but readers who think they can foretell the ending early on shouldn’t get too cocky. Casey is smarter than that, and roads that seem to meander to the obvious destination don't necessarily end there.
Liddy is a memorable character who could easily appear again as The New and Improved Liddy James in Casey’s next novel. Let’s hope so.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16022-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
A tour de force.
In 1974, a troubled Vietnam vet inherits a house from a fallen comrade and moves his family to Alaska.
After years as a prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright returned home to his wife, Cora, and daughter, Leni, a violent, difficult, restless man. The family moved so frequently that 13-year-old Leni went to five schools in four years. But when they move to Alaska, still very wild and sparsely populated, Ernt finds a landscape as raw as he is. As Leni soon realizes, “Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you.” There are many great things about this book—one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. Another key example is delivered by Large Marge, a former prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who now runs the general store for the community of around 30 brave souls who live in Kaneq year-round. As she cautions the Allbrights, “Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There’s a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you.” Hannah’s (The Nightingale, 2015, etc.) follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet–like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.
A tour de force.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-312-57723-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
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