Open Secrets

May 18, 2020
Family drama and organized crime collide in this gripping, often touching thriller from Kohler (Cracks). When Swiss banker Michel discovers that his wife, Alice, has been unfaithful, he turns for consolation to one of his charming but shifty clients, whom he simply refers to as “the Russian.” Later, when the Russian calls Michel, angrily demanding his money back from losses incurred in the gold market, Michel suggests they go for a sail on the French Riviera. Alice soon has to identify Michel’s drowned body. A mourning Alice visits her artist sister, Lizzie, at the family home in Amagansett, Long Island, where Alice receives news that her 14-year-old daughter, Pamela, has disappeared from the girl’s Swiss boarding school. Meanwhile, Lizzie’s philandering boyfriend, Sergei, admits that he introduced Michel to some Russian gangsters as potential clients. As Alice comes to appreciate the consequences of Michel’s shady business dealings, Kohler keeps Pamela’s fate tantalizingly up in the air. The plot moves swiftly amid luxurious settings to a closing twist that may not satisfy everyone. Readers who like to watch the unraveling of family secrets will find plenty to enjoy. Agent: Robin Straus, Robin Straus Agency.

June 1, 2020
In Kohler's (Once We Were Sisters, 2017) latest, a literary novel-cum-thriller, a seemingly charmed life is touched by infidelity and crime. Swiss banker Michel takes on a shady Russian client in the wake of his business failings and his wife, Alice's, affair. Not long after, he disappears. Alice thinks he may have killed himself, not only because of the extra life insurance he'd recently obtained but because his financier father also died at his own hand after hard times hit. Things turn even more complicated when their daughter Pamela disappears from her boarding school, leading Alice to believe there are more sinister forces at work. Alice sets out on a dangerous path to find Pamela and figure out what, exactly, happened to Michel. Nothing is as it seems in this novel; not only does the plot take several turns but so does the tone, moving from lush descriptions to fast-paced dialogue to suspenseful scenes. While the shifts can be a bit jarring for a relatively short book, they will certainly keep readers entertained and guessing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)