Do This for Me

March 1, 2018
A tightly wound litigator goes off the rails when she learns her husband has been having an affair.At 37, Raney Moore is a partner at one of the top law firms in New York City and a happily married mother of two. "I'd gone to the best high school in the country, the best university, the best law school, all on my own. I never drank. Never smoked. Never cheated. Never lied. I never even swore....My life was a story I'd written myself....It was all going very much according to plan," she announces. As you might suspect, it's all about to go down the tubes. While waiting for a phone call to tell her whether she's won a huge, widely publicized pro bono case, she gets another call--from the husband of the woman her own spouse, a beloved TV entomologist, is screwing on his book tour. Almost immediately (as in without a moment's pause for consideration or any emotional reaction) she calls her assistants into her office and orders them to systematically destroy her husband's life, turning off his phone, towing his car, canceling his credit cards, and hacking his Twitter account to create a career-destroying scandal. She puts the family home on the market, and, when her 15-year-old twins get out of school, they move that very day from their mansion in the suburbs to a rat-infested hovel in Brooklyn. If you think all this challenges belief, fasten your seat belt. Raney has no idea what therapy involves, she has never heard of chai, she is completely in the dark about both workplace sexism and sexual harassment, but what's even more ridiculous is how she behaves when she finds out about each of these things. Kennedy (I Take You, 2016) has a knack for snappy dialogue, but it's possible that she has recently moved to Earth from outer space.This book deserves some sort of award for creating the most preposterous and unlikable protagonist in contemporary fiction.

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May 1, 2018

While Kennedy's (I Take You) lawyer protagonist is another rich New York professional, Raney Moore stands out from the crowd. Smart and fierce, she remains calm and collected under pressure--maybe too collected. Raney "puts away" her feelings in a metaphorical treasure chest and takes her cue for actions from dictated lists. When a big discrimination lawsuit comes out in her favor, it is overshadowed by her husband's infidelity and her outraged response; her law firm's paralegals could be willing to do legal research for her beyond their official work. Along the road to becoming more comfortable with emotions, Raney also fights the system from the inside, spends a lot of money, approaches sexuality like an experiment, and nearly loses it all. This is an uproarious, sometimes salacious, and always entertaining quick summer read. VERDICT Reminiscent of The Devil Wears Prada, except set in the legal world, this is ideal for fans of the "New York professional who finds herself" script interspersed with sexy humor.--Jennifer M. Schlau, Elgin Community Coll., IL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 14, 2018
When a high-powered New York lawyer discovers her husband has been unfaithful, she decides to exact merciless revenge in this enjoyable novel from Kennedy (I Take You). Raney Moore has it all: a husband she loves, two beautiful daughters, and a prestigious job as a partner at her law firm. But when she gets a call telling her that her husband, Aaron, has been cheating on her, everything falls apart. Raney’s first reaction is to systematically destroy Aaron’s life by calling on her minions at the firm to cancel his credit cards, pack up and sell their home, hack his social media, and make massive public donations to climate change denial organizations in his name. The sequence is deliciously fun and cathartic, due in no small part to Kennedy’s talent for quick, theatrical dialogue. As Raney’s fury cools and she and Aaron give their marriage another shot, she investigates herself and the ways in which her life was perfect only as a facade. However, the broad comedy that plays so well in the beginning doesn’t coexist well with the nuance the book strives for (but doesn’t quite achieve) at the end. Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had. This zany tale will appeal to readers Zoe Heller’s The Believers.