PositiveNew York Journal of BooksIn Frank’s family, going crazy can have fatal consequences, as we learn in Ms. French’s absorbing story rich in the characters, smells, and noises ... But Ms. French’s whodunit plot is really just a framework for exploring the conflicting pressures, jealousies, hatreds, and underlying strengths of a spectacularly dysfunctional family, a portrait that’s pushed close to, but never past, the boundary into caricature. Ms. French is a trained stage actress and the book’s 400, dialogue-dense pages sometimes read almost like a script, to the point where narrative-driven readers may grow impatient. But it’s that same dramatic training that is Ms. French’s great gift, for she creates fully formed characters with great efficiency and clarity.
