Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the prologue of this morally complex thriller from Joseph (The Last Day of Emily Lindsey), Paula Wilson goes to the Chicago police and explains to Det. Claire Puhl how she came to blackmail pop star Ryan Hooks. Flash back seven days. Paula, a rideshare driver, picks up Hooks, whom she doesn't recognize, and drives him to a meeting with a woman not his wife at her apartment building. Hooks leaves his cell phone in her car, and when Paula later realizes who he is and what's on the phone, she begins to view Hooks as the answer to her financial problem-raising $180,000 to pay for an operation for her husband, who was severely injured in an auto accident. Hooks may be connected to Beverly Brighton, a neighbor in the building, who was murdered a few days after his visit; this gives Paula some leverage. Basically a decent woman, Paula slides down a slippery slope of murder, blackmail, and adultery while Puhl tries to sort out the muddled relationships that led to Brighton's murder. Paula's decision-making matters more than the crime-solving in this twisty tale. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
Paula's life is an endless cycle of rideshare driving, waitressing, and avoiding her husband. Then, one night she picks up a sexy stranger and drops him off with an equally sexy, obviously-not-his-wife hookup. The next day Paula finds the stranger's cell phone in her backseat and is startled to realize he is wealthy and famous singer Ryan Hooks, married to equally wealthy and famous -Tiffane-not the negligee-clad woman from the night before. Almost by accident, Paula begins blackmailing Ryan to keep quiet about the affair and for the return of his phone. Instead of stopping there, Paula becomes infatuated with the other woman, Emma, which leads to murder. VERDICT One of the most well-done aspects of this new novel by Joseph (Boy, 9, Missing; The Last Day of Emily Lindsey) is the format. The flashback and flash-forward method doesn't work for some novels, but the skewed time line here makes the story even more suspenseful. Alternating points of view keep readers on their toes as well, sneaking looks into the motivations of the different characters. For readers who enjoy psychological and crime thriller authors such as Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and B.A. Paris.-Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A ride-share driver might make much more than her usual fare in this humorous Chicago-based thriller.Paula Wilson is an artist by training and a Drive Away Car ride-share driver by necessity. One night, she picks up a fare who calls himself "Lotti," whom she fails to recognize as Grammy Award-winning pop singer Ryan Hooks. Paula sees that he's gone to meet a beautiful woman, and when she spots his face on TV the next day and realizes who she'd had in her car, she also realizes he must be cheating on his jealous wife. Paula sees an opportunity to help her husband, Keith, who is wheelchair-bound because of an auto accident. Paula had found a phone on the car's back seat, and she now realizes it belongs to Ryan. An operation that might allow Keith to walk again would cost $180,000 that they don't have. Paula "would do whatever it took" to help Keith get back on his feet, but she is an honest woman in her own mind: When she finds a passenger's left-behind phone she usually waits two weeks to see if it's claimed before selling it online. Not with Hooks, though, because she knows his secret. She meets him backstage at a concert and lets him know she has his phone and that maybe he will give her a $180,000 "reward." "The telephone and my silence" might be coercion, she tells herself, but "Hell, I'd call it a suggestion." She wants the reader to know she's a good person, that she only lies "about the tiny, unimportant things," such as her identity when she meets Hooks' secret lover, Emma Bentley, at a dog park. Emma invites her"Chris"to "a little dinner party," where Paula gets soused senseless (she really likes her wine) and a woman gets murdered. Detective Claire Puhl leads the homicide investigation and tries to decide how seriously to take Paula.A light story with nice twists and imperfect but strong female characters. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
