The one thing she knows is that they always blame the wife...even more so, the ex-wife. Jonah was gunned down at his home near the campus of Suny Binghamton and the police want to know everything. But Hailey can only tell them that it was not an amicable divorce and had become a custody fight over their young daughter, Maya.
Her family relationships are even more complicated. Her mother and father were poor only children and Sol promised that he would make Sherry happy, and his children would have everything they didn't. And though Hailey was a bubbly obedient daughter, her brothers Nate and Adam were always at each other's throats. Nate was the star athlete/golden boy with many friends and a combative disposition. Adam never fit in-he was quiet, shy and the foil for Nate's obnoxious teasing. He only bloomed when he left the family for good.
Nate followed in his dad's footsteps and became a dermatologist, entering Sol's practice. He was the only child who stayed in West Palm Beach, working in the office with his father and office manager mother. He wanted to expand into plastic and cosmetic surgery but Sol wouldn't hear of it-creating tension between them.
Hailey's bitter custody battle was an even greater source of family tension. Sherry lost Hailey to Jonah when they met and married-he was a professor and novelist while she was a journalist. He had nothing good to say about his mother-in-law...she was too clingy, too controlling, and too demanding- especially after Maya was born. He didn't allow Sherry to visit or let Hailey take Maya to Florida to see her grandparents, and told Sherry that Hailey didn't want Maya to be smothered like she was. When Hailey came to Florida with Maya to visit after Joseph asked for the divorce, Sherry made it known that both would be better off living with them-that's when Jonah's lawyer presented his list of impossible demands. Things were reaching the boiling point. How could Nate and Sherry help Hailey be happy again-they came to the conclusion that there was only one way to do this...but they would never or would they?
Mirvis followed a crime case of murder in California which made her think of the ramifications of this event on family dynamics. Everyone was affected, before and after the murder. She creates an untenable situation and sets her characters inside it, leaving them to try to cope and move on, if they can. Was Sherry right with her smother- love approach? Did Hailey really agree with Jonah that Sherry was toxic? And what happened with Adam? These are all questions that should be addressed when the inevitable book discussion takes place...and I'll be the first to take a chair.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
February 11, 2025
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