#BookReview Outer Banks by Anne River Siddons

Outer Banks by Anne Rivers Siddons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book better than Peachtree Road up to 98%. The story theme was about false appearances, people acting on the surface in civilized and splendid fakery, like the elegant dancing of 18th century Baroque minuets. The setting is four middle-aged sorority girls and a reunion at a grand house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We have Kate Stuart Lee, neither a Lee of Virginia nor offspring of General Stuart. Her boyfriend Paul Sibley, a prostitute's son whose mother took the last name of a construction company her brother worked for, who dumped her to marry the rich Ginger Fowler. Then there's Cece Hart, a girl we never really got to know, and the dumpling Fig Newton who was made fun of and grudgingly accepted.

The story jumps between flashback and the present day, when a sick Kate Lee gets an invitation from Ginger Fowler Sibley for a reunion. Kate's husband, Alan, for some inexplicable reason urges her to go. This felt like a set up to me. Why would he want Kate visiting the very house she was supposed to marry Paul in, especially after Kate calls Paul's name in their last lovemaking session? Incomprehensible.

Okay, so suspend disbelief of Alan, the hapless husband. Now the four aged cronies are gathered together and all they do is drink and reminiscence, while the enigmatic Fig watches and waits with catlike anticipation. The similarities to C. S. Lakin's Innocent Little Crimes begin to arise as the memories become more pointed, jabbing and setting off one friend against the other. The climax comes when Paul, who was supposed to be staying elsewhere, arrives at the eve of the storm. Literally the gloves come off and once again, four women fight their feelings at his presence.

It turns out that underneath all the veneer of friendship and affection lay great ugliness. This book really does make you think. While you're feigning affection to me, can you tell that I'm pretending to like you? At the end, the one true friend is the one who would risk your displeasure and her own life to drag you out of the pretend world you mired yourself in.

[4.5 stars] Up to 98% this book was 5 stars. But my biggest question is unanswered. Who shot ***? If anyone knows, please comment or tell me. It seems to me the author dug herself into a hole and came up with a convenient/cliched solution that does not keep with the character she created. I would have thought this character would have wanted to stick around and enjoy the mayhem she worked so hard to cause. This little twist ruined the entire story for me. And honestly there are better ways to work the plot to achieve the same result. Instead, it feels like the story ran out of steam and she just wanted to end it. And sadly, the coverup and lies continues.

View all my reviews