This Is Not Over

This Is Not Over by Holly Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are stories that take many twist and turns, there are stories that are based on the smallest of details. Neither approach is wrong…Othello turned on a handkerchief and War and Peace…well, I never read it…that’s not the point. This is Not Over is based on the barest of details, and from it a story is woven over the course of 380 pages that was at least engrossing enough for me to eschew the due date on my library book in my desire to see how this one ended.

It all starts with a simple on-line review of a certain Santa Monica house rental: a thorough trashing of the landlord (Miranda) by an angry tenant (Dawn) who has been screwed out of her security deposit because of a mysterious stain left on a sheet that Miranda had to pay to get cleaned (unsuccessfully):

Beware of your "host"
I wouldn’t leave a review on Getaway.com at all, if I didn’t feel it was my civic duty to warn others . . .
Dawn

Which results in an email correspondence back and forth in an epic escalation between two women from different generations (Miranda is 60, Dawn is 30). In the sidelines is Dawn’s perfect husband Rob, and Miranda’s gruff but stable husband, a Doctor.

Neither woman’s reality matches up with what each other thinks. As we dig deeper into both of their situations, it is obviously much more complicated than either realizes. Miranda needs the house rental so she can secretly support her estranged drug addict son, Thad. Dawn has a checkered past that helps to explain her behavior. As the novel builds to its climax, they all tie together in ways both unexpected and surprising ways.

I enjoyed this. It’s not my usual type of book, but it moves quickly and is at times fairly engrossing. And like I said, it was definitely worth holding on to for the few extra days which will wind up costing me, oh, maybe 60 cents.




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