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AFTER CAROLINE

Paperback veteran Hooper comes through with thrills, chills, and plenty of romance in her second hardcover (after Amanda, 1995), this time with an energetic—if formulaic—murder mystery with a clever twist. One summer evening Joanna Flynn's car spins out of control; miraculously, she survives without a scratch. But minutes later, before she's removed from the wreckage, her foot comes in contact with a fallen power line and she's electrocuted. Again, although her heart briefly stops, she survives. Then, on the same night as her two near-death experiences, Joanna has a vivid and distressing dream. She's by the ocean. There is a colorful carousel horse, a sense of urgency, a painting on an easel, a sign with the name of a town: Cliffside. She keeps having the dream. Conveniently, Joanna is a research librarian, and it doesn't take her long to uncover an eerie coincidence. In Cliffside, Oregon, 3,000 miles from Joanna's home, Caroline Mckenna, a woman exactly Joanna's age, died in a car accident on the same day of Joanna's accident. Stranger still, the picture in the obituary suggests that Caroline could have been Joanna's twin sister. Without further ado, she leaves Atlanta for Cliffside, where she takes temporary residence in The Inn, the town's only hotel, with the intention of figuring out what connection there is—if any—between Caroline's accident and her own brush with death. Since she so closely resembles a recently deceased (and prominent) citizen, she's the subject of considerable speculation and gossip; the ruggedly handsome Sheriff Griffin Cavanaugh takes a particular interest in her. Sure enough, just as Joanna suspected, Cliffside has plenty of secrets, and the circumstances surrounding Caroline's death are highly suspicious. Together with the sheriff, the spirited Joanna sets out to vindicate Caroline, along the way finding more than she ever bargained for. Nothing groundbreaking here, but Joanna is a likably quirky heroine, and the suspense is sustained admirably right up to the very end.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-553-09948-5

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996

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TRUE BETRAYALS

Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.

Pub Date: June 13, 1995

ISBN: 0-399-14059-X

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995

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FIREFLY LANE

Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...

Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.

Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?

Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3

Page Count: 496

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007

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