The Delaneys are a seemingly normal family with four grown up kids and a mum and dad who have just sold up the family business and retired. That is, until mum goes missing. Family secrets start emerging, dad looks guilty, and the children grapple with whose side they’re going to take.
The tension builds nicely from the very beginning (making it a real page turner), with two timelines running side by side – the present, in which mum has disappeared and the past, starting around 6 months ago when a mysterious house-guest barrelled into the family’s lives uninvited.
Character development is a great feature of this book – at times there are some two dimensional aspects but mostly the characters are believable, including the way they deal with contemporary social issues. I feel that this served as a commentary on modern times, in particular, women’s roles as wife and mother.
Tennis plays heavily as a backdrop to the family’s life and even though I know little about the sport it was clear the author had researched it well and made me feel that I had learned some interesting tidbits about it.
I read this book as I was gifted it for Christmas (thanks, mum) and I have read some of Liane Moriarty’s books in the past. I mostly enjoyed those books however the most recent one before this wasn’t on my list of favourites. I’m glad I gave her another go as this one was a pretty satisfying read (evidenced by the fact that I zoomed through nearly 500 pages in less than 3 days).