July 29, 2019
Every Wednesday, 38-year-old freelance literary scout Corie Geller—the heroine of this breezy suburban suspense novel from bestseller Isaacs (As Husbands Go)—meets for lunch with other Shorehaven, Long Island, self-employeds. Unbeknownst to her neighbors, Corie was an FBI agent before she wed widowed federal court judge Joshua Geller and retired to help raise his young daughter, so when she senses something hinky about group member Pete Delaney, she starts digging. His background checks out, but if Pete is nothing more than a packaging designer, why does he constantly switch cell phones, have no personal social media presence, and pay for everything with cash? Her best friend maintains that she’s fixating on Pete because she’s bored with her own life, but Corie trusts her gut and partners with her father, a former NYPD detective, to investigate. Despite the predictable plot and a climax lacking punch, Isaacs amply compensates with vibrant characters, snappy dialogue, and an arresting first-person narrative. Readers in search of a stylish beach read will be satisfied. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management.
August 1, 2019
A former FBI agent, planning to settle down and be a normal person on Long Island, smells a rat at her weekly lunch group. When she met widowed hunk Josh, a top lawyer-turned-federal judge, and his now-14-year-old daughter, Eliza, Corie Geller thought she knew what she wanted. Instead of flying around the world interrogating terrorists for the government, she would marry Josh, become a wife and mother, and use her language skills to vet books in Arabic for U.S. publishers. That's how she landed at La Cuisine Délicieuse in Shorehaven, Long Island, lunching every Wednesday with the suburban self-employed. A landscaper, an eBay reseller, a low-end speechwriter, a photo retoucher, an internet data expert...but there's one guy in the group who sets off her internal alarms. Pete Delaney sits in the same chair every week, won't take his eyes off his car, keeps changing phones--it's just weird. Even if he does check out to be what he claims to be--a freelance packaging designer--his many three-day out-of-town trips don't quite make sense. So she and her dad, who's retired NYPD, launch a sub-rosa investigation. Following up every hunch, lead, and inkling she has about this guy is a full-time job. A full-time job for the reader, too. While the investigation goes on and on, often straining credibility, other possible plotlines in the book suffer. Josh's dead wife, whose stuff is still all over the house. The daughter, whom Corie supposedly loves to pieces but who barely speaks a line of dialogue. The ex-boyfriend she still has the hots for. The boring husband she's not so sure about. These characters and storylines are sketched in but languish as the Delaney investigation inexorably proceeds in excruciating detail. Still, Isaacs (A Hint of Strangeness, 2015, etc.) never forgets the need to charm the reader. Corie keeps up the nonstop sarcastic patter, and she really is a hoot. Her in-laws' house: "they bought it from Mrs. Havisham then added indoor plumbing." Pete Delaney's pants: "strictly old-guy--the baggy kind that make men look as if penises hadn't yet been invented." Isaacs' wit and wisecracks can't save this one.
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October 1, 2019
Corie Geller is bored with her life. She was an active member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force until she met a judge, a widower with a young daughter. She's now a freelance rep for publishing companies while taking occasional side jobs for the FBI. Suburban life just doesn't suit her, and the picture isn't bright when her husband plans to be away for two months. But soon her interest is stirred by a fellow member of a group of self-employed people who meet weekly. Pete Delaney appears to be a quiet package designer, but why does he sit with his back to the wall and watch his Jeep? His out-of-town trips also seem a little too long. Corie suspects Pete may have skills similar to her own, with something to hide. VERDICT Isaacs's (Compromising Positions) latest suburban novel starts out as a low-key story of a wife looking for a diversionary project for herself and her father, a retired cop, then escalates into action requiring all of her skills as a trained FBI agent. For fans of Kate White and the movie True Lies. [See Prepub Alert, 4/8/19.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2019
Isaacs has written numerous best-sellers, beginning with her debut, Compromising Positions (1978), but this is her first full-length novel since 2012's Goldberg Variations, and it's a good one. When Corie traded her spot on the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for suburban bliss, she couldn't imagine a downside. Her new husband is a federal judge, her stepdaughter is amazing, and their Shorehaven, Long Island, house is a monument to understated class. But her new job screening Arabic fiction for American publishers is a snoozefest, so Corie can't ignore her instincts when she picks up something off about Pete Delaney, a man in her home-based business-owners group. When her father, a retired NYPD homicide detective, backs up her instincts, Corie is off to the races: calling in favors at the bureau, pairing up with her dad on surveillance, and cross-checking crime reports against Delaney's travel schedule. Turns out, Corie's still got it, but it leads her straight into a deadly trap. Corie's combat skills and investigative prowess are still up to snuff, but her snarky commentary and hilarious interactions with her father are the real page-turners here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
August 1, 2019
A former FBI agent, planning to settle down and be a normal person on Long Island, smells a rat at her weekly lunch group. When she met widowed hunk Josh, a top lawyer-turned-federal judge, and his now-14-year-old daughter, Eliza, Corie Geller thought she knew what she wanted. Instead of flying around the world interrogating terrorists for the government, she would marry Josh, become a wife and mother, and use her language skills to vet books in Arabic for U.S. publishers. That's how she landed at La Cuisine D�licieuse in Shorehaven, Long Island, lunching every Wednesday with the suburban self-employed. A landscaper, an eBay reseller, a low-end speechwriter, a photo retoucher, an internet data expert...but there's one guy in the group who sets off her internal alarms. Pete Delaney sits in the same chair every week, won't take his eyes off his car, keeps changing phones--it's just weird. Even if he does check out to be what he claims to be--a freelance packaging designer--his many three-day out-of-town trips don't quite make sense. So she and her dad, who's retired NYPD, launch a sub-rosa investigation. Following up every hunch, lead, and inkling she has about this guy is a full-time job. A full-time job for the reader, too. While the investigation goes on and on, often straining credibility, other possible plotlines in the book suffer. Josh's dead wife, whose stuff is still all over the house. The daughter, whom Corie supposedly loves to pieces but who barely speaks a line of dialogue. The ex-boyfriend she still has the hots for. The boring husband she's not so sure about. These characters and storylines are sketched in but languish as the Delaney investigation inexorably proceeds in excruciating detail. Still, Isaacs (A Hint of Strangeness, 2015, etc.) never forgets the need to charm the reader. Corie keeps up the nonstop sarcastic patter, and she really is a hoot. Her in-laws' house: "they bought it from Mrs. Havisham then added indoor plumbing." Pete Delaney's pants: "strictly old-guy--the baggy kind that make men look as if penises hadn't yet been invented." Isaacs' wit and wisecracks can't save this one.
COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.