3 stars Hurry Home was a fast read with a lot of promise. Alex, a lauded social worker in the middle of a tough case, comes face to face with her own troubled past when her estranged sister shows up unannounced on her doorstep, without apology and pregnant. What results is a multi-POV telling of the sisters' relationship, their interactions with love interests and well-meaninged acquaintances, and the childhood memories that plague them. First, I love that the sister relationship is at the forefront of this title. While Alex's relationship with her boyfriend, Chase, and her close friend, Sully, are important to the plot, the focus remains on the sisters. How they see each other, how they describe their family and history. The choices they make through each other's eyes. It's interesting and engaging to see a female-centric plot. And Nay tackles a lot of sensitive topics you won't see in most thrillers on the market through this lens: abuse, abortion, poverty, drug use. While not the nitty gritty--we never see anyone using drugs or hitting children--the implications of these problems resonate through the characters. However, I found their voices to be a little muddled sometimes, and I had to go back and check which POV I was reading in order to keep everything straight. While Nay worked hard to make their histories and impressions polar opposites, their narrative voices read much the same way. And in spite of the focus on the relationship, I also found the plot to be on the predictable side. I wasn't surprised when the proverbial tables turned, when we started questioning motives and perspectives. The clues peppered throughout were a little too on-the-nose for my liking, so while I I liked this book, I couldn't sink my teeth deep enough to love it. An enjoyable read, Hurry Home would be a perfect weekend read for anyone looking for a new angle on the detective genre with some relevant societal issues.
Comments