August 15, 2014
After her father's sudden death, a daughter discovers disturbing facts about a sister presumed dead more than two decades earlier. One way or another, Lisa MacPherson, a musical prodigy, has always dominated the lives of her family. By the age of 17, she's a violin virtuoso with a bright future. Unaccountably, on a winter morning, Lisa's kayak (though not her body) is discovered in the ice-bound Potomac near the family's Alexandria, Virginia, home. Shortly after the tragedy, the family moves to North Carolina. Lisa's younger siblings, Danny, 7, and Riley, 2, will be told only that Lisa suffered from depression and committed suicide. Twenty-three years later, Riley, who has become a high school guidance counselor to help depressed teens like Lisa, is settling her father Frank's affairs after his death from a heart attack. (Her mother had succumbed to cancer years before.) While getting ready to sell his North Carolina real estate-her childhood home and a trailer park-Riley runs across several people who harbor secrets about her family's past: Danny, a mentally troubled Iraq War vet, nurses grudges against his parents while living as a virtual hermit on the outskirts of the trailer park. Her father's friend Tom exhibits a threatening mien. Jeannie, another family friend, appears helpful, but what is she hiding? Riley discovers that her father was paying Tom off, but why? Early on, Lisa's voice, and her version of events, emerges. We learn that she was accused of murdering her violin teacher and was about to stand trial. Her suicide was faked by her father and Tom, both ex-U.S. Marshals skilled at making people disappear. Her father relocated her to San Diego, where, ignoring Frank's warnings to avoid music, she found new outlets for her extraordinary talent. Although the plot is not exactly watertight, the revelations are parceled out so skillfully that disbelief remains suspended until the satisfying if not entirely plausible close. A compulsively readable melodrama.
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September 1, 2014
When Riley MacPherson was two, her older sister, Lisa, committed suicide, and it slowly destroyed her family. Now 25, Riley returns home to sort through her recently deceased father's estate. She soon learns her family life was maintained through lies. Lisa, a violin prodigy, did not kill herself because of pressure and depression; she shot a man and feared going to jail. Then Riley finds evidence that Lisa may not have committed suicide at all, and may be living under a new identity. She struggles with telling her brother, Danny, but he blames Lisa for the family's disintegration and wants only to bring her to justice. Desperately alone, Riley feels she can trust no one while she searches for her sister. Was Lisa sad and homicidal, or was there more to the murder and her subsequent life on the run? VERDICT Chamberlain's (Necessary Lies) powerful story is a page-turner to the very end. A must for all mystery lovers and those who like reading about family struggles. [See Prepub Alert, 4/27/14.]--Brooke Bolton, North Manchester P.L., IN
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 1, 2014
Riley MacPherson hasn't been back to New Bern, North Carolina, in what seems like forever. Although she was there fairly recently to plan her father's funeral and cremation, that went by in a blur. Now that she has the summer off from her position as a school counselor, Riley has devoted the next few weeks to cleaning out her childhood home and executing her father's will. As family secrets start spilling out into the open, Riley wonders how much of her family's history she ever truly knew. With a sister seemingly raised from the dead, a father's indiscretions resurfacing, and her own beginnings hanging in the balance, Riley discovers the hidden truths beneath seemingly endless layers of deceit, shame, and mystery. A story of redemption, paranoia, and the power of shared bonds, The Silent Sister is a powerful and thrilling novel. Chamberlain has a flair for the dramatic, immersing the reader in the frustrating, foundation-shaking process of Riley's discovery. This tautly paced and emotionally driven novel will engross Chamberlain's many fans as well as those who read Sandra Brown and Carla Buckley.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
October 15, 2015
In 1990, Molly Arnette was like any other 14-year-old girl, yearning for a pair of purple Doc Martens. Her world was just starting to open up beyond her family's neighborhood in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Decades later, Molly looks back on the summer of her 14-year-old self as the summer when everything changed. As a grown woman, Molly wonders if she's strong enough to proceed with the adoption application she and her husband have started and whether it's time to let him know the truth about her own childhood. Chamberlain has teenage Molly and grown-up Molly narrate alternating chapters, piecing parallel stories together. Exploring the thrilling feelings of first love, the depths of teenage angst, and the difficult decisions families and spouses make together, Pretending to Dance is a multilayered, poignant novel. Chamberlain writes knowledgeably about seeing a family member confront a degenerative illness, the power of therapy, and the hardship of loss. Reminiscent of a Sarah Dessen or Sharon Creech novel, Pretending to Dance proves that a coming-of-age story can happen at any time in your life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)