Publisher's Weekly Review
Southern gothic meets psychological suspense in Vernon's eerie debut. Gray King, an alcoholic whose life is unraveling, reluctantly agrees to go with her husband, Paul, to her family home in Elizabeth, S.C., for the Christmas holidays. Her first glimpse of the house establishes the sinister mood: it "sat like a rotting log concealing secrets beneath its moist belly." On Christmas Eve, to get away from the suffocating house and down a few double gin and tonics, she heads for Ruby's Tavern, towing her husband and younger sister along. In a drunken exhibition, she kisses a former lover, causing Paul to drag her away. On Christmas morning, she awakes with no memory of the night before and finds Paul gone. Det. Nina Palmer, who went to school with Gray, investigates Paul's disappearance. Gray's paranoia is heightened when she begins receiving cryptic cellphone messages from a woman called Annie. The novel shifts perspective among Gray, Nina, and Annie, each of whom raises questions about the reliability of the others. The full complement of macabre motives lurks in the shadows. Fans of dark tales of familial and marital discord will be satisfied. Agent: Chris Bucci, CookeMcDermid. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Immunologist Vernon's fiction debut is a Southern Gothic steeped in politics, adultery, family dysfunction, and murder.Christmas Eve finds alcoholic heiress Gray Godfrey, who's returned for one of her infrequent pilgrimages to Piper Point, the South Carolina home of her imperious mother, in the arms of Jacob Wilcox, an old friend-with-benefits who smooches her up on the dance floor at Ruby's and finds his kiss returned with interest. Of all the scandalized spectators on hand to watch the show, Gray's husband, Paul, a clean-energy lobbyist with political aspirations, is the most shaken. Before he can do more than scream at his wife briefly, she blacks out, and when she awakens on Christmas morning, she's alone in bed, and Detective Nina Palmer, of the Elizabeth County Sheriff's Office, reports that Paul's car has been found abandoned along a highway. Gray, her recently divorced sister, and her lawyer cousin do their best to deflect gossip that finds in Paul Godfrey's disappearance an echo of real-life South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's absence while he was reportedly hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2009. As Gray's experiments with sobriety return decidedly mixed results, she receives a voicemail message from someone calling herself Annie who wants a hush-hush meeting to talk about Paul. Instead of showing up, however, Annie follows up her first contact with a series of increasingly intrusive, disturbing, and frankly mocking messages that threaten Gray's hold on both her husband and her sanity.Although the Grand Guignol climax won't surprise genre veterans, Vernon creates a fleet, suffocating sense of velvet nightmare as he races through the list of all the taboos readers would love to believe every wealthy, politically connected Southern family has violated. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Things come to a head for Gray King Godfrey, with her serious drinking problem and not-so-happy marriage, on Christmas Eve. Gray and her husband, Paul, make a holiday visit to her small hometown outside Charleston, where the King family is still supreme even after the death of her father, a shipping magnate turned congressman. In a gathering at a bar after the mandatory church service, a drunken Gray meets up with her first love before Paul drags her away. She wakes up with a hangover and little memory of the night before, but Paul is gone, his rental car found abandoned. Since Paul is a prominent Washington lobbyist planning to enter politics, his disappearance makes news. A wide investigation ensues, with chapters narrated from the points of view of Gray and Nina Palmer, a local police officer whose dying aunt was a longtime domestic for the King family. Long-buried secrets are revealed as action accelerates to a climax, with a chilling final sentence. This gripping debut marks Vernon as a name to watch in the thriller genre.--Michele Leber Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
DEBUT Gray Godfrey and her husband, Paul, are visiting her family's estate in Elizabeth, SC, for the first time in years. She has nothing but bad memories of the place and dreads spending time with her distant mother, but those fears turn out to be minor. After a night out with friends at the local bar, Gray wakes to find Paul missing. His luggage is still in their room, but his car is gone and because of her heavy drinking, Gray has no memory of getting home the previous night. Initially, police detective Nina Palmer thinks it's an embarrassing case of abandonment, but things turn more sinister when Paul's car is found and it seems he disappeared into the nearby marsh. Meanwhile, Gray is receiving phone messages from a woman named Annie who says she has stories to tell about Paul. -VERDICT This is an assured and well-crafted debut with slow-building tension that ratchets up with each page. The timing for the release coincides nicely with the television adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, which has fans looking for other moody, Southern, gothic reads. They will definitely want to read this.-Jane -Jorgenson, Madison © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
