“…This ocean view is why we bought this home all those years ago, scraping together every last dime and tapping into David’s trust fund to move into The Cove, the best community in Southern California. We were young parents, and so madly in love. The ocean was romantic, beautiful then. Not deadly and dark and cold.
I feel the rush of heat as my hands clench into fists. Anger and loss, did you ever notice how those emotions mix together? It’s a toxic combination. I swallow. I need to focus on the table, the first step of my coming-out party. All that’s missing from this perfect setting is the fourth wineglass. I have another one, of course. It’s almost symbolic. It was Mary’s spot at the table, Mary’s wineglass that fell to the floor.
Mary who dropped into the sea…”
Jane Harris lives in an enviable community in Southern California, living a very wonderful life with a husband and two daughters. It was the perfect life. One she had worked very hard for. It was complete she thought and completely under control. Until the day her oldest daughter fell to her death in a tragic accident and Jane’s perfect world came apart at the seams.
But now Jane is back and under control and she wants to take back what she believes is hers. Everything she had before Mary died. Control of her life, her children, her husband. It’s been a year but the timing seems perfect to Jane. Mary is going to have a memorial and three days later her second daughter, Betsy will graduate High School and leave for college. But the universe has moved on in the last year while Jane has been in a haze of anti-depressants. Betsy is distant and Jane’s husband Dave is working long hours at the office. And even more so are the notes Jane is receiving, telling her that perhaps Mary’s death was not the accident everyone thinks it is.
“…My daughter’s face is pale, her lips pursed. ‘Mary was alive when I left her, you know that. This is why people hate you. Accusing your own daughter of something horrible, of knowing some sort of secret. I don’t know what you’re up to but I desperately want to be normal again, to feel normal again. It’s hard enough to not have Mary. She was my best friend. If you try to open this all up again, we’ll lose the little bit of respect we have around here. I can’t take it, the stares, the pity. Not again. If you try to open Mary’s case, Dad and I will tell everyone you’re insane, a monster…”
Jane is on a mission. To back what is hers and no one is going to get in her way. Not her husband, not her daughter, not Mary’s biological mother and not her uber rich in-laws. No Jane knows how to run the game and she is in charge. Problem is, who do you believe when everyone around you is lying. When you can’t even believe yourself?
Whatever you may think about this book I guarantee you this much. You will never forget Jane Harris. She is a chameleon of a character. From victim to manipulator to schemer to jilted wife to unloved mother. Is she innocent of capable of great evil? This tale is told in Jane’s words and through her eyes and thoughts, but it doesn’t take the reader long to realize that there is something very, very wrong with Jane. Or is there? Is Jane just playing it up to gain sympathy or an advantage. The way she treats those she says she loves only proves that Jane is not really capable of loving anyone. It is all about her.
This is a good and disturbing read!
Books and Lesser Evils 