Reef Road

A Novel

De: Deborah Goodrich Royce

Narrado por: Saskia Maarleveld

When a severed hand washes ashore in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, Florida, the lives of two women—a lonely writer obsessed with the unsolved murder of her mother’s best friend and a panicked wife whose husband has disappeared with their children—collide as the world shutters in the pandemic lockdown of 2020.

A young woman’s life seems perfect until her family goes missing. A writer lives alone with her dog and collects arcane murder statistics. What each of them stands to lose as they sneak around the do-not-enter tape blocking Reef Road beach is exposed by the steady tightening of the cincture encircling them.

In a nod to the true crime that inspired it, Deborah Goodrich Royce’s Reef Road probes unhealed generational scars in a wrenching and original work of fiction. It is both stunning and sexy and, like a bystander surprised by a curtain left open, you won’t be able to look away.

©2023 Deborah Goodrich Royce (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Weird

This was a strange story. I liked the way the story unfolded, but I really could not buy the basic premise.

Not what I was expecting

The story kept my attention. It had the perfect amount of mystery and enough information to come to your own conclusions yet not be 100% sure.
The 2 topics, bulimia and rape, which people seem to take offense to will not be a trigger for everyone.
The bulimia in this story was to create an image/character of the wife. It was not the center of the story. Mentioned maybe a few times more than necessary, perhaps.
As for the rape, it is part of the story. If rape is a trigger and you read the reviews, read at your own risk. Without giving anything away all I will say is every action has a reaction.....

Loved this book

I loved the back and forth of this book set during the pandemic. I could picture all the events during lock down.

Better than Mrs. Ford

Finding Mrs. Ford was flawed, but held my interest. This one is one of the best suspense titles I've listened to in a long time.

Noir-ish fiction inspired by a true crime

Saskia Maareleveld delivers a delicious reading of the dark doings in Palm Beach as the pandemic lockdown closes in two women—The Writer and The Wife—each intent on her own hidden purpose no matter the cost.