I am told that Mary Kubica has written some excellent stories. Unfortunately, her latest effort is more like the rough draft of a story that has some potential, but needs a huge amount of work before it could be good, let alone excellent.

This is my first read for this author, whose new novel is a book club read for my wife. She bought the hardcover, so the publisher and author made their money based on Ms. Kubica’s reputation. We will not be buying any more of her books 

There are so many problems with this plot that listing them would fill ten pages. Start with the characters, who are all idiots and make nothing but bad decisions even when the good decisions are obvious. None of them are sympathetic and by the end you just want them out of your reading life. Finish with the author’s complete abandonment of the ending, choosing to punt everything and wrap up the story in the most dissatisfying way imaginable.

The largest flaw in the plot is the device of having the leading woman, Lily, lose an earring. Early in the story, after a full day of stalling, Lily tells her husband, the moron Christian (one of the two first-person point-of-view narrators of the story), that she has lost one of the pearl earrings he gave her for their fifth anniversary. They are very special to Lily and she wears them every day. I will not spoil the story for anyone gullible enough to read this book, but as you read, think about this: when was the last time Lily took off those special earrings? When was the last time she looked in a mirror, where she might see that one of her precious earrings is not where it’s supposed to be? And when was the last time that she, or Christian — or Nina (Lily’s best friend and the other first-person POV narrator) — would have had an opportunity to notice that one of Lily’s special earrings was missing? That thought will become one source of extreme frustration when trying to understand the sequence of events Ms. Kubica spins together.

Nothing in this story makes sense, and when you’re waiting for the author to finally explain things in the end, it doesn’t happen. There are no twists that make you say, “Ohhhh, now I see.” Instead, you say “What? How?? No!!!”

There are dozens of plot inconsistencies and unbelievable facts that seem to indicate that the author had no Beta readers or editors looking at the manuscript. (Of course Christian would carry that garbage bag around in his car for three weeks, right?) There is also misdirection by the author, often in annoying ways. One first-person narrative fake-out is unforgivably manipulative and aggravating. This book reads like a first draft that was copy edited and published.

I’m sorry it was so bad. I kept wishing it would resolve in some logical and satisfying way. It didn’t. Save yourself the frustration of yelling at the characters “why would anyone do that?” Over and over. If your book club picks this novel, skip the meeting, or show up ready to spend a few hours talking about how bad it is and how curious that a major publisher would allow an anticipated novel by a purportedly top-tier author to be put on sale in such terrible shape.

Red Rock Press (HarperCollins) 2023