CUL-DE-SAC

 

SYNOPSIS

Someone on this quiet, unassuming cul-de-sac will be shot dead in the middle of a sultry July night.

Will it be Maggie, the perfectionist wife, or Craig, the husband who can’t quite live up to her expectations? They’ve packed up their two children and fled their life in California, hoping for a fresh start in Florida, only to find the demons of the past hovering on their doorstep.

Maybe it will be Nick, a highly respected oncologist, or his wife, Dani, a successful dentist, both with well-kept secrets of their own.

Or perhaps the victim will be Julia, an elderly widow, whose troubled grandson has recently moved in with her, introducing unsavory habits and even more unsavory acquaintances into her formerly quiet existence.

Then there’s Olivia and her husband, Sean. Having lost his job at a prestigious advertising agency, Sean is depressed, resentful of his working wife, and drinking heavily. He is also prone to increasingly violent fantasies.

And what of the newlyweds, Aiden and Heidi, whose marriage is already on the rocks, due to Aiden’s reluctance to stand up to his intrusive mother? Matters aren’t helped when Heidi befriends Julia’s grandson, setting the stage for a major blowup.

A diverse group of neighbors, to be sure. Yet all harbor secrets. All bear scars. And all have access to guns.

Not all will survive the night.

Title: Cul-de-sac

Author: Joy Fielding

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Publication date: August 10, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’ve lost count of how many neighborhood stories I’ve read this year, some better than others, and I’m glad to say Cul-de-sac is one of the good ones! It just comes to prove that looks can be deceiving and you can never quite know what happens behind closed doors.

A shot rings out in the night. A neighbor is dead. The question is…who?

The residents of this cul-de-sac in Florida are hiding lots of secrets and some of these secrets will be the end of one of them.

One thing is sure, I would not like to live in this neighborhood. For starters, most of the people living there were quite unlikeable. Some of them grew out of it but others kept getting more and more horrible. And two, why do they all have guns at home? From the story point of view it was a great way to misdirect suspicions about who the shooter and the victim were but, from a real life point of view…Why? I will never understand the fascination.

Having so many characters and POVs made for a terrific pacing and when a character’s chapter ended I could not wait to go back to their storyline.

The secrets they were all hiding made of this a very entertaining read and didn’t allow for a single moment of boredom. When I realized I had already listened to more than half of the audiobook! (great narration, btw).

The tension keeps on building in most of the households until the shot is fired and with several likely candidates to die, I can’t say I was sad to see that one go.

Great story of domestic suspenses that will keep you turning pages like mad.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.