Palm Beach A novel

Adkins' (Privilege, 2020) third novel is a unique twist on a fish-out-of-water story centered on a couple who relocate to Palm Beach from New York City. Mickey's a Broadway performer sidelined by a rare vocal injury and Rebecca is a crunchy journalist and new mother to their son, Bash. When he can no longer sing, Mickey falls back on the hospitality skills he learned as a struggling actor. His wealthy employer asks him to move south and manage his estate, at a salary Mickey cannot refuse. Once there, the erstwhile performer is poached by uber-wealthy vulture capitalist Cecil Stone to be his butler. Rebecca's magazine column dedicated to wealth inequality garners increasing attention, and she meets Mrs. Stone at an event she is covering, resulting in an invitation to ghostwrite her memoirs. Navigating life with infant Bash shifts from complicated to comfortable as the couple acclimates to living among the privileged. Fans of Jojo Moyes and Sally Rooney will appreciate Adkins' talent in weaving subtle events together to create complex characters whose persuasions evolve throughout.

Adkins (Privilege) delves into the world of Florida's wealthy excess with the fluffy story of a young family's move from New York City to Palm Beach. When actor Mickey damages his vocal chords, his theater career ends and he takes a lucrative job managing a Florida estate, bringing with him his freelance journalist wife Rebecca and their eight-month-old son, Bash. About a month into the new job, neighbor and "vulture capitalist" Cecil Stone offers to double Mickey's salary for a similar job. The socially conscious Rebecca is horrified that Cecil has built a fortune by decimating the companies he buys, though she gets cozy with Astrid, Cecil's outspoken wife of 30 years, and begins to change her attitudes about the ultrarich. (Astrid even hires Rebecca to ghostwrite her memoirs.) After the couple learns Bash might have a dangerous genetic disorder, the Stones use their far-reaching connections and wealth to help him. While a subplot involving an insider-trading scam feels contrived, Adkins's characters are reliably quirky, as with Cecil's habit of hoarding ketchup packets, a condiment Astrid "didn't believe in." Though it's not particularly memorable, it'll keep readers turning the pages. (Aug.)