September 21, 2009
Morgenroth's latest begins with the police report of a homicide, then introduces the two main characters and works backwards. Bullied Nora is stuck in a dead-end job in Kansas, caring for her cancer-stricken mother. Spoiled rich boy Timothy walks into the coffee shop where Nora works, and it's mad love at first sight. A more unlikable pair of lovers is hard to imagine. She's spineless, he's brutally selfish, but they are united in their mutual distaste for their dreadful, if hopelessly stereotypical, families, who return their disdain. Alternating chapters—“Timothy,” “Nora,” and “The Investigation”—describe the course of their relationship and its consequences, one of which is a murder the morning of their wedding, the same murder that opens the book. As in They Did It with Love
, the final revelation (who is murdered? who is the murderer?) is meant to be shocking. But after the hackneyed romance, obvious metaphors (e.g., the murder victim is stabbed through the heart) and nonsurprises, it's difficult to still care. Morgenroth has a strong, snarky voice and good pacing, but this book is a misfire.
Starred review from October 15, 2009
Morgenroth ("They Did It with Love") gracefully tells a love story, tragedy, and mystery from three very different perspectives: Nora's, Timothy's, and the findings of a police report. Nora is a young woman taking care of her ailing mother in her Kansas hometown, working in a knockoff Starbucks coffee shop, living a shadow of a life as her mother goes through treatment for leukemia. Timothy is a moneyed New Yorker, existing in a cold life of privilege and prestige. When a chance encounter between the two starts an unlikely relationship, facets of their personalities and their family relationships are slowly uncovered, revealing surprises for everyone involved. The crafting here is more literary fiction than popular mystery, but fans of both will be captivated by this haunting tale. VERDICT With character studies, a deep love story, challenging yet wildly differing filial duties, and a murder mystery, the only disappointment is that this beautifully gripping novel ends. Highly recommended.Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from November 15, 2009
Its clear from the start that there will be no happy ending to the love story of Nora and Timothy. The novels opening pages include a police report of a person stabbed in the heart in a bed-and-breakfast in the Hamptons. Finding out who was murdered at whose hands will keep readers turning pages compulsively to the closing twists of this cunningly constructed mystery. Nora, who gave up graduate studies in economics to come home to care for her cancer-stricken, divorced mother, works in a coffee shop in a small town in Kansas. Timothy, who manages the wealth of his family in Manhattan, stops in for a latte as he whiles away time before a meeting with Warren Buffet in Omaha. Alternating first-person accounts by the instantly attracted pair, in which they details their inner hopes and fears and describe their dysfunctional families and closest friends, are interspersed with reports about homicides involving loved ones, leading up to the murder on the eve of a wedding. Morgenroths full-bodied characterizations, even of minor figures, plus the powerful forward motion of her narrative make this unusual mystery absolutely compelling. Quite possibly a breakthrough novel by the author of They Did It with Love, 2007.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)