Barbara M. reviewed on 5/16/2023 + 147 more book reviews

I started this book last Saturday and finished it today (Tuesday) so it's a quick read. It was on some list of recommended books so I added it to my paperbackswap wish list. The first couple chapters were promising. Tess, the central character, is a teacher at a private, elite boarding school in Maine. Tess had been a student there years earlier but had abruptly left at age 17. Tess had a son ("Rudy") after her disappearance. She later returned, earned a college degree, and became a teacher at her old school. She married a fellow teacher. Anyway, early in the book, "Lila," Rudy's girlfriend (or friend, depending on who one asked) was found dead at the bottom of a cliff.

By the third or fourth chapter, I found myself becoming annoyed with Tess and Rudy. As the investigation began around Lila's death, Tess started lying about the whereabouts of Rudy and Harmon (Tess' spouse) around the time Lila had died. The lies continued. As I continued reading, I realized how much I disliked Tess. Ditto with Rudy. Granted, he was a teenager (17) so probably some of his "issues" were typical male teen angst. But, I still didn't like him. He was a troubled youth (as the reader learns) but Tess, knowing this, never took him to therapy, fearing that--if the truth came out--Rudy would be taken away from her. When others brought up some of Rudy's behavior, Tess would always make an excuse.

SPOILER ALERT: At the end, Tess decides to divorce Harmon. She goes out for drinks with a female colleague and runs into Kevin, the town police officer who investigated Lila's death. He and Tess had been classmates at the boarding school. Well, they ended up leaving the bar at the same time and ended up kissing. I think a better ending would have been for Tess to realize that she was a strong, independent woman who wanted to experience life on her own without leaning on a man.

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