November 15, 2022
A new mother questions her partner's innocence after he disappears following the murder of a young woman. Janie and her boyfriend, Max, a former semifamous indie rock guitarist, have just left their fast-paced New York life for quiet upstate Kingston following the birth of their daughter. They've barely settled in with their newborn when Max mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night. Max's family and friends are oddly unconcerned, eventually convincing Janie that Max has disappeared before when things got rough. To make matters worse, Janie soon learns about the murder of a young woman at a nearby bar, which happened the same night Max disappeared. It doesn't take long for detectives to make Max the prime suspect, especially once they find out that he knew the woman in question. Though Janie, too, claims to suspect her partner's innocence, it doesn't come off as entirely believable; her actions, like continuing to take his calls and even sneaking off to meet him, do not quite match her thoughts or what she tells others. Her experience with postpartum depression is similar; while she constantly mentions her lack of love for her daughter, her actions don't align with her internal dialogue. Her friends are nearly psychic when it comes to supporting her whenever she needs it, despite not being very close. Max is more a fantasy of a musician than a real man. If the characters were better developed, the book might have felt more suspenseful, but their motivations are generally unclear; people's actions are constantly being explained through dialogue, which feels more like a tool to move the plot forward than actual speech. More exasperating than suspenseful.
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December 12, 2022
Janie, the overwhelmed new mother at the center of this uneven domestic thriller set over two fraught days from Konen (The Perfect Escape), is grateful for the support of her partner, Max, who assists with night feedings at their home in Kingston, N.Y., close to Max’s parents. Then early one morning, Janie wakes up to find their six-week-old baby, Freya, screaming and Max missing. When she calls his friends and family, no one knows where Max is or seems overly concerned. Janie takes it upon herself to determine what happened, only to discover that he was last seen at a local tavern near an alley where a young woman was found murdered. The murder victim, who was married to a jealous husband and had a young child, turns out to have been an ex-girlfriend of Max’s. The tension rises as it becomes clear that the husband had reason to target Max’s parents and that Janie and Freya are in danger. Janie’s histrionics, including frequent complaints about nursing a newborn, distract from the suspenseful, twisty plot. Hopefully, Konen will do better next time. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group.