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Title details for Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce - Available

Reef Road

A Novel

by Deborah Goodrich Royce
Saskia Maarleveld
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 10, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798212197830
      • File size: 258401 KB
      • Duration: 08:58:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 7, 2022
      The discovery of a severed hand washed ashore on the Florida barrier island of Palm Beach propels this tightly constructed psychological thriller from Royce (Ruby Falls). Linda Alonso, who lives on Palm Beach, fears the hand may be a clue to the recent disappearance of her husband and their two small children. Another resident affected by this grisly find is a reclusive writer who identifies herself as Noelle, the name of a 12-year-old girl whose murder 75 years earlier obsesses her. Linda is more than the distraught wife and mother she seems to be, and Noelle’s obsession is rooted in a grim truth that has been buried for nearly a century. The stakes increase as the Covid pandemic forces the two into lockdown. A deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues, but who is the predator and who the prey? Royce keeps the plot twists coming as she vividly depicts the uncertainty and mistrust generated by the pandemic, which drives both Linda and Noelle inexorably toward madness. Readers should be prepared for some disturbing scenes. This is an expertly paced thrill ride. Agent: Beth Davey, Davey Literary and Media.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Saskia Maarleveld narrates this intriguing thriller about two apparently unconnected women in south Florida during Covid lockdown. A young wife reports that her husband and two children have been missing from their toney home on Reef Road. Nearby, an eccentric, solitary writer is obsessed with the unsolved murder of her mother's childhood best friend many years earlier. Maarleveld employs a similar tone for the alternating chapters, but her well-paced narration is vested with an underlying tension that sustains the listener through the slower-paced first half of the audiobook. As the characters' stories overlap and deceptions are exposed, Maarleveld's portrayals reveal the cunning and desperation of the more sinister players. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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