Mystery/Thriller -- 2 1/2 stars
Stan and Joy have recently sold their tennis school and retired. They are not settling into retirement gracefully. When a bleeding Savannah shows up at their door one night claiming she is running from an abusive boyfriend, they take her in. Stan and Joy's four adult children question their parents' decision, especially now that Savannah doesn't show any signs of planning to leave. Then Joy disappears, and the family is divided over the question of Stan's involvement. ----- First, this is a family that puts on a good front for their friends and neighbors, but behind closed doors, they really don't like each other much. I found their constant asides and verbal barbs uncomfortable to read. Every family has its disagreements, but 472 pages of hurtful dialogue made it impossible to care about any of them. The reveal at the end does nothing to soften the edges; instead it confirms that, even if they had legitimate(?) reasons, they were already unlikable even as children. One strong point, is how Ms. Moriarty creates characters who, despite sharing a common background, are as unlike as any literary strangers. But, good writing will only take you so far. It's hard to like a book where everyone in it is comfortable being unredeemable. In the end, I'm not sure if the answer to Joy's disappearance was anticlimactic, or if I had just stopped caring.
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