The Book:
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner
Published January 25, 2022 by Gallery Books
Date read: November 9, 2023
The Characters:
Daniel and Helen
Rory and Serena
Rachel
Katie and Charlie
(Helen, Rory, and Charlie are siblings)
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way (after years of trying)—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class and meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be. Rachel doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.
But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.
How did Greenwich Park end?
The Reveal:
When the group were young, Daniel and Serena had witnessed Rachel being raped in a boathouse. They were cheating on their significant others, so they didn’t come forward to help convict her rapists so that they wouldn’t be caught.
Rachel recognized them in Charlie’s bar one night and started following them. She started blackmailing Daniel. Serena killed her in the basement and they buried her in the wet concrete (questionable plot element here). Helen found her body in their basement when she asked a contractor to come look at a crack in their foundation.
Daniel had been embezzling funds from his and Rory’s business so that he and Serena could run away together. Serena went to the Caymans with that money.
Helen raised her baby on her own, with Charlie and Katie’s help. Rory and Lisa (his secretary) stayed together. Daniel was in jail.
The Ending:
At the very end, a police officer approached Serena, who had been grifting rich vacationers.
The Review:
The author’s writing style was enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to reading her recent release. I will say that the beginning was a little slow, once the pace picked up I was hooked. The plot was good–I thought I could tell where it was going, and was pleasantly surprised by a few aspects. I LOVED the very end. I would definitely read more by this author!
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For more neighborhood thrillers, check out this list.
