Valley of Ashes

June 25, 2012
Fire—both literal and figurative—threatens to consume everything in Madeline Dare’s life in Read’s wrenching fourth suspense novel featuring the former debutante (after 2010’s Invisible Boy). Madeline is eager to return to writing, having relocated in 1995 to Boulder, Colo., for husband Dean’s new job. With Dean at work or away on business more often than he’s home, it’s hard to do more than wrangle their one-year-old twin daughters, Parrish and India, and keep her sanity, but Madeline still jumps at the chance to write restaurant reviews for the local paper. Meanwhile, crime-magnet Madeline can’t help overhearing her editor talking about Boulder’s string of increasingly brazen arson attacks, and soon she’s shadowing arson investigator Mimi Neff, a former New Yorker, unbeknownst to Dean. The tensions rise as Madeline’s marriage begins to buckle. There’s an inevitable sense of doom throughout, which Read doles out in perfectly proportioned doses. Agent: Amy Rennert, the Amy Rennert Agency.

August 1, 2012
A funny and sad novel about a woman trying to establish an identity for herself. Madeleine Dare is a stay-at-home mother of twin daughters and the second-class wife of a man who travels a lot on business. A casual housekeeper at best, she wants to find freelance work as a writer. Her rat of a husband belittles her ambitions, but she lands a gig as restaurant critic for a local newspaper. Soon the editor assigns her to report on a series of arsons. Meanwhile, her relationship with her husband is strained as he treats her with a mixture of love and disrespect. In fact, she has plenty of issues with herself as she grapples with self-loathing. She is loyal to her husband (is it mutual?) but enjoys fantasies involving teenage pool boys, and she uses enough gratuitous f-words and their ilk to fill a whole series of books. Madeleine ("Bunny" to her husband) is a sympathetic character in a witty, wiseass sort of way. That wit goes over the top at times, as when she jokes about sex with a chain saw. But she really wants to be a good wife and mother, while damn well wanting to do something for herself. The book seems at first to be mainly about the arson, but that turns out to be less important than Madeleine's relationships with her husband and her friends and the surprising turns those friendships take. The way the book ends, it's easy to imagine at least a sequel or two. The tone is reminiscent of Janet Evanovich's novels, but perhaps with a touch more sadness. Also, Madeleine is more competent at her job than Stephanie Plum. A fast-paced, well-written book that will appeal to readers not bothered by profanity.

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March 15, 2012

Bored with being a stay-at-home mom in Boulder, CO, where the family has just moved, Madeline Dare takes on a freelance newspaper assignment. Unfortunately, a serial arsonist is making her job a whole lot more trouble than she had imagined. Rising star Read has been nominated for all the biggies.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.