Review by Booklist Review
Roy's latest is a sensual speculative thriller that places Marilyn Monroe at her sister's home in rural Hockta, Florida, as Tampa's mob boss promises vengeance against a local teen. Marilyn's abusive hanger-on Siebert Rix has followed her to Hockta, hell-bent on luring her back to Hollywood. Ilene Holt warned her son Truitt against running his bolita lottery game in Hockta, unconvinced that the forbidden competition would escape the Tampa Mafia's notice. Chance intervenes when Truitt stops to help stranded motorists and ends up accidentally killing the nephew of Tampa's mob boss. Truitt flees, but Siebert has witnessed the deadly scuffle, and he's ordered to find Truitt or answer to the mob. Truitt turns to Wiley Bishop, Lake County's sheriff, banking on Wiley's love for Ilene. For them, Wiley resurrects his past self, an ends-justifies-the-means strategist who is all too familiar with the underworld. Roy is as adept as ever at bringing the South's beauty and soft-edged dangers to life. In this complex tale, fierce family love is pitted against ambition, obsession, and contested power.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this odd reimagining of the Marilyn Monroe/Norma Jeane Baker story, small-town Florida teen Addie's dream of visiting Hollywood for her 18th birthday with Aunt Jean, her mother's best friend, is shattered by violence. Aunt Jean, as she does with some regularity, has traveled to the (fictional) town of Hockta to "[claw] her way back to normal" in her friend's care after one of her downward slides. A major part of her problem is Siebert Rix, the nasty, obsessed photographer she has known since childhood who has followed her from Los Angeles and demanded she return there with him. The plot breaks down into three components: Rix's twisted pursuit of Marilyn/Jean, who drifts in and out of different personalities in trying to protect Addie and her family; the Tampa mafia's pursuit of Addie's impetuous boyfriend, Truitt, after he accidentally kills the nephew of the mob boss; and the local sheriff's determined efforts to protect Truitt and his mother, whose no-good husband was gunned down by the mob. Dead bodies litter the landscape, including that of a female store clerk who spends most of the novel in the trunk of Rix's car and, propped up in Addie's living room, a deluded local man who thought the movie star was going to marry him. Ultimately, Marilyn/Jean isn't the only one good at playing roles. Addie finds herself playing the part of someone strong enough to help her mother. In a fit of rage, her father "turned into someone none of us had ever seen." The Marilyn/Jean switches don't always make sense and ultimately the plot strands are tied up too neatly. But Roy keeps things taut and tense throughout, springing surprises and making all her characters count. A nightmarish Southern noir in which everyone pays a price. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
