She Treads Softly: The Vacation

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

The Vacation

The Vacation by T. M. Logan
St. Martin's Publishing: 7/21/20

review copy; 384 pages

The Vacation by T. M. Logan is a recommended domestic thriller.

Kate, Jennifer, Rowan, and Izzy, four best friends from their university days in Bristol, England, and their families take a vacation together to a luxurious villa in the south of France. It is supposed to be a dream vacation get away to celebrate their fortieth birthdays and their decade long friendships, but it turns into a nightmare. After arriving, Kate discovers texts on her husband Sean's phone that imply he is having an affair with one of her three friends. She immediately begins watching everyone, looking for clues as to which friend has betrayed her. Is it Jennifer, who dated Sean in college and is still beautiful? Is it Rowan, a successful, wealthy, elegant woman who set up the whole holiday? Or is it Izzy, who is still single and was a childhood friend of Sean? The trouble is that there are plenty of secrets being kept by everyone, including husbands and children, so everyone seems guilty of something.

The questions and action keeps rolling along and you will realize early on that no one is likeable. No one. Not adults, not children. All I could do was think, "Good golly! Why are you all still friends? Why would anyone take a vacation with any of these people? It is time to let go of that friend myth, set up some boundaries, and make some real friends for goodness sake. It is okay to let go of the past." Yeah, they are all that annoying, miserable, insufferable, and unlikable. Every. Single. Character.

But, this novel is like watching a train wreck or a house fire. It's awful, a disaster, but you can't take your eyes off it. The bizarre twists come fast and furious toward the end. Many of them are not believable, but still you will keep reading to see what could possibly happen next and what else can be thrown into the mix of the plot. This would be a great book to discourage group vacations right now or perhaps to console yourself that it's better to not take destination vacation with anyone.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Publishing.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.