The Drowning Girls

March 14, 2016
The Palms at Altamont Ridge, the exclusive gated California community that serves as the setting for this captivating novel from DeBoard (The Fragile World), becomes the home of the middle-class McGinnis family when husband Phil is hired as the community relations specialist. At the local high school, 14-year-old Danielle McGinnis makes a new friend, troubled sophomore Kelsey Jorgensen, who begins a flirtation with Phil that grows more insistent each time he rejects her. Kelsey uses every trick in the book, including rumors and threats, to sow doubt and discord between Phil and his wife, Liz, a high school counselor. Approaching the problem from totally different perspectives, mildly ambitious Phil and down-to-earth Liz each try to resolve the situation. This tale of a family in peril closes with a death that’s tragic and unexpected. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group.

Starred review from May 1, 2016

When Phil McGinnis is offered a job at the Palms, an affluent, exclusive community of posh homes and bored women, his wife, Liz, and stepdaughter, Danielle, move with him from a cramped rental to a lavish 4,000-square-foot home. Liz, feeling like an outsider, is reluctant to get involved in this gated society of Stepford wives and overindulged children, but she wants to make it work, particularly for Danielle, an introverted science nerd. When one of the gorgeous teenagers next door takes an interest in Danielle, Liz can't help but be suspicious, especially as she learns more about the secrets that simmer beneath the idyllic surface of the neighborhood. Soon, their lives spiral out of control. DeBoard (The Mourning Hours) breathes new life into the well-worn tropes of young seduction, romantic obsession, and affluence. Alternating points of views between Liz and Phil give readers the benefit of knowing more secrets than its characters do, adding a layer of depth to this novel. The shift from present to past further creates a sense of urgency. VERDICT Give this tale of domestic suspense, with its pitch-perfect pacing, to Gillian Flynn and Mary Kubica devotees.--Erin Entrada Kelly, Philadelphia

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Think Fatal Attraction meets Desperate Housewives, and you have DeBoard's latest thriller. Liz McGinnis has just entered paradise, an uber-rich gated community called the Palms, where her husband, Phil, was recently hired on as a community-relations specialist. To say that Liza high-school guidance counselor and former single motherfeels out of place in her new community is an understatement. Liz and Phil mostly laugh off their gossipy, glossy neighbors until their teenage daughter, Danielle, brings her new friend Kelsey to their home. At first, rich and gorgeous Kelsey's interest in geeky Danielle is merely confusing, but soon her near-constant presence in their home takes a disturbing turn. As the book alternates between Phil's and Liz's points of view, readers quickly find that Danielle's innocent crush on her best-friend's stepfather isn't so innocent, and she is not someone to take lightly. This is a gripping, tense suspense story with a good surprise ending, and fans of other recent girl thrillers will enjoy this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)