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An Interesting and suspenseful premise, executed with the help of a crazily complex web of strange and compelling characters (most of them harboring deception and secrets), and an intensely creepy setting, this book’s initially engaging start fell somewhat flat for this reader on the final go-round.
Hannah, our main protagonist, is a mother, wife, sister and daughter. An all-around nurturer and “good girl”, Hannah has always been the one everyone counts on to make things right. For as long as she can remember, Hannah has cleaned up her brother Mako’s messes – soothing jagged family dynamics along the way (including the moods of her always-prickly mom) so effortlessly that it has now become pretty much her second nature.
Living the good life in Florida, blessed with Gigi, her cherished nine-month old daughter, and her gorgeous (but strangely enigmatic) husband Bruce, Hannah’s world, unbeknownst to her and all of those she loves, is about to embark on a crash-course with destiny.
A mysteriously-gifted DNA-testing kit, a voyeuristic patron, a party girl with a new lover, a voice from the past seeking answers, a dangerously-vengeful and oddly-matched duo – when Bruce and Hannah are invited to join an all-expense-paid weekend at a luxurious cabin situated deep in the backwoods of Georgia, (an invitation extended by her tech-magnate, always over-the-top brother Mako) , the stage is set for these and other seemingly-unrelated events to play out in a final series of twists and turns (which this reader did not find as satisfying as the original premise implied).
If we cannot choose our families, can we, at best, choose our reactions?
As the author plays out the perhaps unanswerable question – is biology truly our destiny? – for this reader, achieving an only moderately successful treatment, which was clever in parts, compelling in others, but inconsistent and somewhat insufficient in the final telling.
A great big thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher @HarperCollinsca for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
