By Monday morning, one of them is gone.
Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce—and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her—and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions—especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.
As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors—and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else. (Pub Date: Mar 27, 2018)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
3.5.
I found this tagged as Women's Fiction but it's also a little bit of Mystery, somewhat of a Mystery as well. And you add Desperate Housewives as the final touch.
Izzy has recently moved to the suburban Yellow Springs and wants to start a new life to forget her forbidden crush on her former best friend now brother-in-law. Clara had a big plan and got together the neighborhood for a girl's night in her new patio, of which the guests can't remember much the day after. And Kristin is missing with her twins and money her husband would get a part of after their divorce was done.
Narrated from the three women's point of view, the story follows how the investigation affects the lives of the two who remained. We don't know if Kristin has really run away with the money and her children or if she's been kidnapped, we just know that her closest friends in Yellow Springs seemed to know very little about her and didn't even notice it until too late.
I was surprised finding myself liking Clara more than Izzy, considering I'm single and wouldn't usually relate to a mother of two plus a husband plus a dog. So I'd say the first issue I had was how hard Izzy was to like as a character. Her predicament, her unrequited love for her brother-in-law, made me pity her a lot but she never did anything the whole book but mourn her lost love. And when she finally did... it was falling for her neighbor's ex-husband? Her gone-missing neighbor.
Clara's parts were where the fun was. I loved how she really went for despite everyone. Honestly, if I had to change one thing, I wish she had a more interesting husband. She deserves the best, really. I loved her character.
The story isn't that hectic to be that much of a thriller, I think that's the reason it was classified as woman's fiction, but it's still curious. I was really worried over Kristin's fate, and you really don't know until much, much later. Even though I had almost no time to read this book, I had to advance even if a chapter more just find that out. So yes, the mystery is involving. And Kristin's parts gave us almost no clue.
Still, I wasn't too happy with the ending. It's hard to explain without giving things away so I'll have to stop there. But I add that it doesn't mean I hated it. It wasn't even that surprising for me to hate it. In fact, I liked the idea. Perhaps, the execution could have been different to reach there in a more satisfying manner. For sure, it made me want to read everything again, as it shed a new light on the story.
I wasn't expecting much from this book, so it was a good surprise. It had a little of Liane Moriarty, some of Paula Hawkins but it could have and a group of curious characters thrown into an uneasy situation they have no idea how serious it is. It's a good read that will probably make you turn pages to find out what happened. I think that's always a good quality in a book.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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