A Family of Strangers

by Emilie Richards

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 B&N/  BAM

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Sophie had many ways of getting to the truth. Now she pulled out guilt, a tool she manipulated with the precision of a top chef’s boning knife.

 

The flaws of an older child are bleached by time, while a younger’s are always in plain view.

 

I listen to your podcast, Ryan. I was right there in that awful prison with that poor woman, the one who was sentenced for a crime she didn’t commit. That’s as close as I want to get to iron bars and a cellmate named Butch.

 

“I can tell him she’s on a religious retreat, that while she was traveling she had a spiritual awakening.” Mom looked skeptical. “She’s a Catholic. We’re awakened enough.”

 

I was almost sure who the package was from. I picked it up once more and lifted it to my ear. Bombs today aren’t the Wile E. Coyote variety with dynamite wired to a ticking alarm clock, but cartoon habits die hard.

 

Sophie’s ex-husband was more of a hobby than a relationship. He came and went as regularly as the meter reader, and she regarded him with the same lack of wonder.

 My Review:

 

Despite her prolific listing of thirty books to date, this was my maiden voyage on the crafty vessel Emilie Richards has most recently launched.   I was supremely lucky in my selection as it was an excellent journey, although it was not smooth sailing for the characters featured. I was quickly caught up in the intrigue and my curiosity was primed and frequently prodded into increasingly higher levels of elevation and exasperation with the elusive Wendy and her fawning and over-indulgent mother. The characters were complex yet highly compelling while the taut and absorbing storylines were full of jagged secrets, daunting histories, and disquieting reveals that squeezed my heart. With thirty books to her credit, Ms. Richards certainly knows what she’s doing by now, as her pacing and storytelling skills appear sharply honed and lushly appointed with emotive and vibrant details and perfectly placed lashings of edgy humor. More, please.