Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Julie Prentice, the heroine of this gripping thriller from McKenzie (Spin), has moved with her husband and their twins to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she's plagued by neighborhood watchdog Cindy Sutton, who publishes the local newsletter. In addition to circulating details of upcoming social functions and other neighborhood news, Cindy's paper expounds on perceived threats to the community, dictating rules of conduct to prevent them. Many of the threats concern purported misdeeds by Julie, thereby making her the community pariah. Meanwhile, Julie is struggling not to become romantically involved with her neighbor, John Dunbar, also with two children, with whom she has been flirting. The reader eventually discovers that an earlier car accident of some kind has had severe repercussions for the Dunbar family. What exactly occurred and who was responsible is the puzzle on which the novel centers, with important consequences to the various characters. The suspense grows, and just when things seem clear, they veer off in another direction. Agent: Abigail Koons, Park Literary Group. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Review by Library Journal Review
In her latest novel (after Smoke), -McKenzie stacks puzzle upon puzzle and lays them out in a seemingly tranquil community in Cincinnati. Julie Prentice and her family have moved to Mt. Adams in an effort to start fresh and escape from their recent past. After publishing a crime novel Julie has garnered a lot of attention, some good and some very bad. Part of the bad is a stalker, and she's the reason for the new start in Ohio. Julie strikes up a friendship with her new neighbor John Dunbar and thinks for a brief time that her troubles are behind her. But a series of events makes Julie once again the center of controversy in her neighborhood and now someone is harassing her family once again. Is it her stalker, or someone closer? Telling the story in alternating points of view (Julie's and John's), McKenzie is able to build suspense with two possibly unreliable narrators. She combines suburban angst with real danger to great effect, so that this novel feels like Christos Tsiolkas's The Slap crossed with Sophie Hannah. VERDICT Recommended for fans of domestic suspense.-Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
