SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE

Is Annie’s new acquaintance a needed confidante or a threat?

A dark prologue from a file on Annie Lin’s laptop describes her life as one long nightmare, mentions a plan involving the safety of her son, and alludes to her own disappearance. All this is in stark contrast to the hopeful and often sunny narrative that follows. Annie has moved to beautiful Kauai with her young son, Finn, determined to start a positive new life. Not even Kalani, her intrusive neighbor, can dampen her enthusiasm. She even gets to play good Samaritan by helping stranded motorist Serena with wine and temporary refuge. Before long, Annie’s sharing confidences with Serena as if she were an old friend. Suspense arrives courtesy of an increasingly menacing storm, the threading through of more bits from the laptop file, and selections from an ongoing text thread between Annie and her sister Sam, who’s helping her forge that new life following her separation from husband Brody. Readers will be well ahead of Annie in perceiving that Serena is not what she seems. Butler’s third novel is packed with familiar thriller tropes, like the way Annie’s dog, Marley, growls at Serena when they first encounter her. For the most part, though, the author folds these in expertly and seamlessly, grounding her tale in the themes of complex family relationships and racial identity she explored in The Tiger Mom’s Tale (2021). Readers can decide whether the reveal and what comes after live up to the foreshadowing.

A skillful by-the-numbers thriller with its share of nice touches.