RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
The novel grows in interest in the second half. Up to this point it is the story of a family and its dynamics. Yet, things start to go awry just before Spin and Laurel are to leave. Sally gets upset when Spin tells him that he and Laurel are not going to have a prenup. Tempers flare, and Spin starts to voice some bitterness towards Sally, Charlotte and Joan, and rakes up old matters when Whit left his mother. In the end Spin leaves in a huff.
After that, we learn that there is a dark episode in Sally's past. When she was a teenager, Everett and Charlotte found her drunk and beaten up. Sally didn't remember anything but refused to go to hospital. Charlotte and Everett took her to Joan; Everett insisted they go to the police, but Joan refused. Now years later Charlotte discovers that Joan wanted to take Sally to the police, but it was Whit who refused. Apparently, he was worried about his reputation. After that episode, Everett went to find Max, the youth who Sally was dating and apparently got her drunk and he and other boys raped her. Everett beat Max up, and he was arrested, and there was a hearing, but Everett just had to pay a fine.
Now years later Charlotte muses that Sally's peculiar personality and problems weren't caused by that episode. Sally had already shown weird behaviour previously, and years later doctors dianosed bipolar disorder.
Washington, the trooper, comes to see Charlotte because he has received some messages from someone reporting her for fraud. Charlotte explains to Washington that it is true that she has a blog about mothers, and she pretends to be a mother, but she has never taken advantage of the mothers. It is the diaper companies who pay her but she has not cheated the mothers out of their money. Washington advises her to close the blog, and he also says that the ip address is her own house. Later Matt tells her the same, and when she tells Sally, she is convinced that Laurel is behind all this matter.
Charlotte goes to Everett, who is now determined for them to be together, and when she tells him about Sally's suspicions and how she thinks her sister is wrong, Everett tells her that something happened the fourth of July night. He was drunk, and at some point during the night Laurel ame to his bed, and he had sex with her. Everett is regretful and chalks his behaviour up to alcohol, but Charlotte is too upset and doesn't want to stay with him.
With the help of his online friend, Matt, Charlotte discovers that Laurel is a sham. She had no accident, had no sister, and her background is quite depressing: no father, a prostitute for a mother. When Laurel and Spin return to the house after spending some days with Perry, they announce that they have married in a private ceremony with just Perry and his family. Joan congratulates them, but Charlotte and Sally are not so enthusiastic. Then Spin wants to talk to Joan; he wants her, Charlotte and Everett to find their own place because he and Laurel want to live there. Joan is shocked, and when Charlotte and Spin are alone, she tries to tell him about the lies that Laurel has spun, but he claims he knows everything.
Charlotte has no idea what to do and phones Everett, who has been out of readh, and tells him to come to her. When Everett returns, she tells him what has happened, and Everett says that they can go to California, but he needs to talk to Spin and tell him what happened with Laurel. The two of them go out to sail, and when Charlotte sees them back, they are at ease, but when they are on the dock, Charlotte sees Everett say something. Spin attacks him and they engage in a fistfight. At some point Spin falls and hits his head against the boat and faints. Charlotte and Everett are concerned, but then Spin opens his eyes and says that he is all right. However, there is blood, and Charlotte calls the ambulance. As they wait, it is obvious that there is something wrong. Spin doesn't remember the fight and he mentions his father as if he were alive. Spin dies before the ambulance arrives. After that, there is an investigation, and Everett is questioned because the record he has when he beat up Sally's boyfriend. However, a neighbour saw the fight and corroborated what both Charlotte and Everett had said.
After Spin's death, Laurel has no qualms to make use of her rights as his widow. Joan and the girls have to leave because Laurel is renovating the house with the intention of selling it. Joan stays in the town, but Charlotte is to move out. Spin's death hit her and Evertt hard, so their plans to go together has to be put on hold. Everett is also leaving, and they need to sor tout their feelings before doing anything. Sally is in a relationship with Washington and has moved to his place.
This is a great novel. I loved reading it. The language was superb and the way the story developed was excellent.
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