The Good Goodbye

November 2, 2015
Two families come to terms with a devastating tragedy in Buckley’s (The Deepest Secret) latest. Arden and Rory Falcone have always considered themselves more like sisters than cousins, even opting to room together when they leave for the same college. A few weeks into their first semester, Arden’s mother, Natalie, receives a devastating phone call: a fire has destroyed the girls’ dorm room, killing Rory’s boyfriend, Hunter, and leaving both girls in critical condition. As Rory and Arden fight for survival, their stories unfold, and secrets emerge about the cousins’ relationships with their families, their peers, Hunter, and, of course, each other. But the secret of how the fire started is the one weighing most heavily on Natalie, and with the police and media asking relentless questions, she begins to doubt everything she knew about her own daughter and niece. Told variously from the first-person viewpoints of Natalie, Arden, and Rory, each chapter reveals a tantalizing new detail that further complicates the cousins’ bond. The three narrative voices are nearly identical, and the climactic twist feels a bit forced, but Buckley’s characters are well-developed and interesting.

December 1, 2015
Rory and Arden are best friends and almost identical cousins (remember The Patty Duke Show?) who room together their freshman year of college. Soon after school starts, there is a fire in their dorm room, and the girls end up jumping, both sustaining life-threatening injuries and burns. Arden's mother, Natalie, tells her story in alternating chapters with Rory and Arden, so there are three points of view, and the truth seems very far away. The families are incredibly close; in fact, Natalie had dated Rory's father, Vinnie, before marrying his brother. Natalie and Vinnie are partners in a restaurant that is having severe financial problems. Arson is suspected in the fire, but both girls are unconscious, so it's their families who must deal with the repercussions when the cops decide that it may have been Arden who set the fire. This is a journey through two marriages and a lifelong competitive friendship between the girls, but the mystery of the fire runs through it all. There is a thriller element here, but the main appeal is for readers who enjoy Jodi Picoult's family dramas.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2015

As cousins Rory and Arden lie unconscious in a hospital burn unit after a fire in their college dorm room that killed another student, tensions mount between their parents, and unfortunate family secrets are revealed. Buckley's recent The Deepest Secret was a book club favorite.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015

Widower Jack Harris is reminded of a past love when he spots a young woman in the park enjoying a champagne picnic. The upshot? He finds himself appealing to top criminal defense lawyer Olivia Randall, his former, regretful fiancee, saying that he's been framed for a triple murder. But was he? Proclaimed Burke's breakout at Day of Dialog by Harper VP and executive editor Jennifer Barth.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.