Despite the cover and title, this is very much a domestic thriller. Three siblings come home to deal with the death of their mother. Revisiting a home movie up-ends everything they thought they knew. It’s slower, more complicated, and messier than I anticipated but it works.
Rose has away with words I quite enjoy.
“He’s my family but he’s also a stranger. A familiar stranger, what an odd thing to be.”
“I’ve actually never understood that saying. Going crazy . . . because crazy isn’t a place you go, it comes right to you.”
“It’s hard to see someone when the memory of them is stronger than the person standing directly in front of you.”
“Sometimes life gets old before we do.”
“They say the truth will set you free, but they didn’t tell you it can set you free in the same way death does.”
My only bones to pick were:
West see from each sibling’s POV. I thought the voices could have been slightly more differentiated. They were all just a little too similar for me.
IIRC, the preferred nomenclature is ‘recovering addict’ instead of ‘former addict.’ Someone in that community can correct me if I’m wrong.
I read the acknowledgments and the town is real. The dive bar is real. The house and property are based on Rose’s childhood home, now inhabited by someone else. I wonder how that lady feels about having her home in this particular book.
Overall, a fun thriller with some excellent wisdom about family and grief. It’s slower and more domestic than the cover would have you believe but definitely worth checking out. 4/5
JesseJaneReads 