Conley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks.
For small town scandals...
When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat—and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.”
And big-time secrets.
Then Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman—a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer. (Pub Date: May 05, 2020)
Another summer whodunnit by Mary Kay Andrews for us to find out who killed someone even us would have if we had had the chance.
Conley has lost her job and goes home to her grandmother and estranged sister until she finds out what to do. There, she has to work for her family's local newspaper and she barely has time to underestimate the work when a big case falls on her lap. A congressman dies in a shady car accident, and the more she investigates, the juicier the story becomes. This could even be her ticket out.
I really enjoy Ms. Andrews's books, how it's not that much much of a thriller and not that much of a romance, and lately you even have good doses of (good) family drama. It's become one of the things I look forward when summer approaches. This one follows those tracks, with familiar elements from her latest books if you've read any, but that will probably lead you to wrong guesses (it led me, at lease). It's not that the key to the mystery was that unpredictable, but that she totally fooled me.
But then we come to the flaws that made this read the less perfect among her recent works. The book is long, very long, unnecessarily... yeah, you got it. For example, good job writing down all those articles so we could feel more of Conley, but they were just repetitions of what we had already seen; I would had kept them out. There were passages that got too wordy, and surely there were characters that had no reason to even exist. Why talk so much about her mom? Why create Buddy Bright?
The romance was also bland. I don't remember feeling this dissatisfied with a romance by this writer before. Of course, because she's done it before, I kept suspecting her romantic interest and this didn't help, but I was suspecting most of the characters and it didn't get in the way of me enjoying them. I didn't feel enough sparks, just that. It would be okay for a pure-bred thriller, but Ms. Andrews's proposal goes much beyond. So I was disappointed.
The parts about journalism, while I'm not in the area, felt exciting, on the other hand. I also loved the characters working for her newspaper, The Beacon. I also enjoyed a lot her grandmother and Winnie. These parts were very charming. And, as mentioned, I couldn't predict the ending, though I acknowledge that maybe I could have had I not overthought it.
This book rated average. It's long, but with good elements to make it up. The mystery part wasn't that intriguing but it was enough to keep me curious, too. It's great for readers that like a more tempered, less upbeat thriller and a good read for the summer for those who already follow the writer, like me.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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