Review by Booklist Review
Clara Weiland has managed to keep a low profile during her older brother Teddy's campaign for governor of Maine--until April. A startling number of violent deaths have occurred in the Weiland family during the month of April. Sligar scatters the family's past tragedies, attributed to the "Weiland curse," throughout the book in the form of Wikipedia entries. Teddy's gubernatorial run is rolling along well until the anonymous release of a sex tape featuring Clara and a strange man. Clara at first believes that her partying days have come back to haunt her--until she begins seeing impossible things right in front of her, like her long-deceased parents, seemingly alive. As more videos are leaked, Clara struggles to find answers. In addition to Clara's narration, readers hear from Clara's lifelong best friend and Teddy's wife, Jess, who comes across as a more reliable source. For fans of The Girl on the Train, Sligar's (Take Me Apart, 2020) clever psychological tale explores the dark side of technology and its effects on our perceptions.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Viral videos send an influential Maine family reeling in this tempestuous domestic thriller from Sligar (Take Me Apart). So many descendants of steel tycoon Thomas Wieland have met with calamity that most believe the clan is cursed. Clara Wieland first bought into the theory at 16, when she saw her parents die. Sixteen years later, the curse comes for Clara when a degrading sex tape hits the internet. Clara's brother, senatorial candidate Teddy, wants to involve the police, but Clara refuses, too humiliated to admit she doesn't recognize her partner or recall participating in the recording. Then another devastating video drops, this one featuring Clara and her best friend, Jess--Teddy's wife--disparaging Teddy in an exchange neither woman remembers. Suspecting high-tech sabotage, Clara vows to uncover the truth, but in an era of bots, trolls, and deepfakes, that's easier said than done. Doubt and paranoia color Clara and Jess's alternating narration, keeping the tension high throughout. A few preposterous twists tilt the plot toward soap opera territory, but Sligar's nuanced, psychologically complex characters provide sufficient counterweight. Sarah Pinborough fans should take note. Agent: Danya Kukafka, Trellis Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The remaining members of a Kennedy-esque family discover that someone is pulling the strings to destroy their credibility--and maybe even their lives. Every year when April rolls around, Clara Wieland feels like she's living on the edge of a knife. After all, an inordinate number of her family members, most recently her own parents, have died in freak accidents during that month, a phenomenon that's come to be known as the Wieland curse. This year, the month coincides with her older brother Teddy's run for a Senate seat from their home state of Maine. So, when a compromising video of Clara is released on the internet, the timing couldn't be worse, for Teddy's campaign or Clara's fragile mental health. As she hides away to survive the cruel comments of internet trolls, Clara starts having hallucinations of her dead parents. Teddy has little patience for his sister; he's been caring for her for years, through devastating bouts with an eating disorder and through her grief. But Teddy's wife, Jess, was Clara's best friend before they were in-laws, and she's more apt to listen--so when she, too, is targeted by an internet video that appears to be a deepfake, she believes Clara's insistence that something else is going on. Maybe it's the curse; maybe it's someone with a grudge against the wealthy, powerful Wielands. Either way, Clara and Jess have to look beyond their complicated family/friend relationship to uncover the truth. Clara is a frustrating protagonist at first, since her trauma has led to self-destructive habits that she seems little inclined to face or change, but Sligar renders her with such complexity and compassion that it's easy to cheer when she begins to figure things out--and when she rejects the convenient trap of the curse narrative, finding power and agency as she learns to trust in her own intelligence. A unique twist on the thriller genre with an appealing side of female empowerment. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
