The Quiet Child
John Burley
William Morrow Paperbacks, August 2017
ISBN 978-0-0624-3185-1
Trade Paperback
From the publisher: It’s the summer of 1954, and the residents of Cottonwood, California, are dying. At the center of it all is six-year-old Danny McCray, a strange and silent child the townspeople regard with superstition, who appears to bring illness and ruin to those around him. Even his own mother is plagued by a disease that is slowly consuming her. Sheriff Jim Kent, increasingly aware of the whispers and rumors surrounding the boy, has watched the people of his town suffer, and he worries someone might take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Then a stranger arrives, and Danny and his ten-year-old brother, Sean, go missing. In the search that follows, everyone is a suspect, and the consequences of finding the two brothers may be worse than not finding them at all.
This is a tale of what appears to be a kidnapping gone horribly wrong. But put aside any preconceptions you may have with regard to kidnappings – this is not like any conjecture you can imagine.
This is a difficult time for the residents of Cottonwood, where “it seemed everyone had something wrong.” The protagonists are Michael McCray, a science teacher at Anderson Union High School, and his wife of 12 years, Kate. Days go by, and no headway is made in finding their two kidnapped sons, despite the best efforts of Michael and Jim Kent, 65 and “the town’s only plumber and part-time sheriff,” who thinks “there was something out here, some trace of them. There had to be. People do not just disappear. There was a concerted law enforcement effort under way. They would find them – – soon, he thought. He only hoped it would be soon enough.” The boys are 6 and 10 years old, of whom Michael thinks “one a constant source of chatter and energy and the other an enigma, silent and indecipherable,” the eponymous brother.
The reader is introduced to Richard Banes, who is at the crux of most of what takes place in this novel, and who “had harbored the suspicion that he might be going insane. True, it was not a condition that had plagued him in the past. But the recent events had been wild and unpredictable – – and beyond his ability to control. If he had heard the story from someone else and not experienced it for himself, he would have scoffed at it and questioned their mental stability. But here he was: incapacitated by a small child . . . ”
This is a psychological thriller of the highest order, and it is highly recommended.
Reviewed by Gloria Feit, August 2017.
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The Last Mrs. Parrish
Liv Constantine
Harper, October 2017
ISBN 978-0-06-266757-1
Hardcover
From the publisher: Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more – – a life of money and power, like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted. To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne – – a socialite and philanthropist – – and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, a man of apparently limitless wealth, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale. Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn’t have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion to insinuate herself into the family’s life – – the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may destroy everything that Amber has worked toward, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.
Part I of the novel is told from Amber’s perspective, Part II, roughly half-way through the book, from Daphne’s. The two women meet at a gym they both attend, and are drawn together by a shared interest: It appears that Daphne, through an organization called the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, puts out a magazine dealing with that disease. Daphne tells Amber, when questioned, that she had lost her younger sister to that disease, 20 years earlier at the age of 16. When Daphne asks, Amber reveals that her own younger sister had died of the disease at the age of 14. That is the beginning of a friendship that becomes much more than just that, with Amber becoming almost of the Parrish family
The reader discovers late in the novel that Amber’s name isn’t even Amber – it was Laura Crump. She had made everything up, including the ostensible existence of a sick sister, an abusive father, when in actuality she was a criminal, a fugitive. But we are told very early on that the only sisters she does [or ever did] have are all alive and well. She apparently makes monthly pilgrimages to the main library in Manhattan and to museums, the better to display her apparent knowledge and acumen to others, most importantly to Jackson Parrish. She inveigles her way into the family dynamic and, in doing so, into the “world of the rich and mighty, mingling and toasting each other, smug and confident in their little one percent corner of the world,” and ultimately landing a job as Jackson’s new office assistant. I have to admit I found myself at one point I could not help but admire Amber’s success in achieving her aim of worming herself into the Parrish world in many aspects, although that didn’t last too long. The Parrish marriage of 12 years soon is threatened. I also have to admit that once the 2nd half of the book is under way–from Daphne’s p.o.v.–that admiration quickly ended.
This novel received starred reviews from each of the most highly respected review sites in the industry, each comparing it favorably with “Gone Girl,” one of the mostly highly lauded novels of its kind in the last couple of years [and one I must admit I have never read, unlike, I suspect, most of the readers of this review, I humbly realize]. That said, “Mrs. Parrish” kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could until the very end.
Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine., a remarkable job, considering they live several states apart! They have created a book that captivates the reader, and one I highly recommend.
Reviewed by Gloria Feit, November 2017.
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