The Anger Meridian

May 4, 2015
Jones creates a seething portrait of a narcissistic mother in this story of an adult daughter’s attempt to reconcile the appearance of her prosperous and successful family with the harsh reality of a life built on a series of lies. Merryn Huntley (the adult daughter) is awoken by police officers to find that her husband, Beau, a heavy drinker prone to rage, has died in a car accident, along with a waitress from a local restaurant. Her first thought is relief: “It’s over.” But Merryn quickly discovers that her financial circumstances in Dallas are not what they seem, and with gossip and creditors swirling, she stashes her engagement ring and her Rolex in her young daughter Tenny’s teddy bear; the two of them go to stay with her mother, Bibi, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Bibi is a doyenne of the expat community, with fingers heavy with silver and turquoise rings, and a large red house perched on a cliff in the wealthy Balcones neighborhood. She greets Merryn with her typical brand of undermining: “You’ve never been able to handle anything in your entire life without my help. What would happen to you, Merryn, if I weren’t here to take care of you?” With an appealing cast of locals (a kind widower who owns a school, a handsome American doctor slumming it with a small children’s clinic, and a former priest-cum-yoga instructor and healer), Merryn sets about getting her life on track. Jones keeps the action churning as the family drama veers into romance and spiritual journey, but perhaps the novel’s greatest feat is Bibi, an all-too-real toxic monster of a mother.

September 1, 2015

Merryn Huntley, the pampered daughter of a deceased U.S. diplomat, feels her world imploding when her husband, oil-patch executive Beau, is killed in a car accident along with a pretty waitress. Worse, he was evidently laundering money for a disreputable Middle Eastern friend, and Merryn finds herself under investigation by the FBI. Luckily, she can throw several stylish outfits in a bag and flee, taking along her nine-year-old daughter, Tenney, to her mother's beautiful villa in the Mexican resort town of San Miguel. Too bad that her mother, Bibi, despises her. The FBI agents track her to Mexico, but Merryn still makes time for yoga and a romantic involvement with the handsome American doctor who's running a children's clinic. Did Merryn know more about Beau's dealings than she will admit? VERDICT If sometimes facile, the plot twists in this latest from Jones (Speak Now) are intriguing, but the main characters remain mere amalgams of their medical conditions--Merryn's migraines, nausea, and temporomandibular joint disorders; Tenney's milk allergy; and Bibi's alcoholism. However, for readers looking for lightweight novel for the beach or a long waiting room visit, this book is the prescription.--Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Merryn Huntley has taped notes written in French around her house to remind her what not to tell her wealthy husband, Beau, or ask him about. So when police notify her that Beau died in a car crash, along with a waitress found in a compromising position, she's relieved. Finding all her credit cards blocked, she sells her engagement ring for ready cash and leaves Dallas for her mother's home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, along with her beloved, precocious nine-year-old daughter, Tenney. But this is no safe haven. FBI agents are after her about Beau's financial dealings, and Merryn's mother, Bibi, is an alcoholic harridan who continues to psychologically abuse her only daughter. Bright spots are Dr. Steve Fuller (called Dr. Handsome), an American who treats the local expats, and the yoga teacher who spots Merryn's anger meridian, relieving her chronic TMJ and headaches. Jones, daughter of author James Jones, has written a compulsively readable novel about a woman who manages to come into her own. With engaging characters, a compelling story, and a seductive sense of place, this is a literary treat.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)