Killing Adonis

October 10, 2016
Australian author Donellan (A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India) makes his U.S. debut with this delicious romp, which includes a bit of social consciousness. In a Brisbane bar, with a Moscow Mule in hand, nurse Freya Miller, who has always dreamed of becoming the Florence Nightingale of East Timor, is reconsidering her future. A friend shows her an ad for a private nurse that reads: “Light duties. Large pay. No questions asked or answered.” In an alcoholic haze, Freya sends off her résumé and is shocked into sobriety when she’s invited to come for an interview at the home of one of the world’s most powerful families. So begins this racy, well-paced, action-packed, and funny tale of twisted love, gruesome death, steadfast friendship, awesome greed, and familial madness—not to mention penguins in sweaters. Donellan has a gift for witty turns of phrase and dialogue that jumps off the page and makes you smile.

Starred review from October 15, 2016
A nurse is hired to care for a comatose patient.Freya Miller has recently lost her favorite patient to a horrific automobile accident. Depressed, she puts off her lifelong plan to work as a Red Cross nurse in East Timor and applies for a suspiciously well-paying job with the fabulously wealthy Vincetti family. Evelyn and Harlan Vincetti are the owners of a vast conglomerate that uses every means possible to increase profits no matter who or what gets hurt. Their younger son, Elijah, is comatose after a mysterious accident. Aside from caring for him, Freya's job is to keep her mouth shut and her curiosity buried, something she finds especially difficult once she's given a key card that opens some but not all of the hundreds of rooms in the Vincetti mansion. Compared to his older brother, Jack, an agoraphobic writer toiling with difficulty on his second book, Elijah has always been the family's golden boy, handsome, athletic, and multitalented, and his fiancee, Rosaline, is determined to have the storybook wedding she's dreamed of despite Elijah's condition. The family may be dysfunctional, but Freya has her oddities, too. She always wears gloves or bracelets to cover up a scar caused by a pineapple cutter, and she suffers from a rare condition that allows her to see sound as color. Freya makes friends with Maria, the housekeeper, and slowly develops a romantic relationship with the reclusive Jack, who joins her in trying to uncover some of the secrets hidden behind the locked doors, many of which turn out to be horrifying and deadly. This first mystery from Donellan (A Beginner's Guide to Dying in India, 2009) will remind many readers of Tom Robbins' work: cleverly crafted and overflowing with idiosyncratic characters and mordant humor. A most unusual mystery, indeed.

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December 15, 2016
Hard-drinking nurse Freya Miller, still reeling from the death of a patient, accepts a lucrative position taking care of the comatose Elijah Vincetti, the beloved adult son of Harland and Evelyn Vincetti, owners of the Halcyon Corporation. The highly paid position comes with light duties, room and board in a fabulous mansion, and the stipulation that Freya doesn't ask any questions. Surrounded by numerous locked rooms and family secrets, Freya soon begins to delve into the many curious events happening around herincluding the death of a household employeewith the help of the Vincettis' other son, Jack, a writer who never leaves home. Meanwhile, the heads of several corrupt companies die in macabre manners, leaving the field open for Halcyon to take over the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, culminating with a merger with the company owned by Elijah's fiancee, Rosaline. Freya and Jack expose the corruption around them, leading to more heartbreak for Freya in this dark mystery set in Australia. A good choice for James Hall fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 11, 2014