Library Limelights 301

Lisa Unger. Secluded Cabin, Sleeps Six. Ebook download from TPL. Canada: Park Row Books, 2022.

"Cabin" is scarcely the word for this luxury vacation rental in the mountains, built and owned by a reclusive man, Bracken. Rented by Michael aka Mickey aka Mako ‒ a boisterous personality – who wants to treat his wife Liza and sister Hannah to a long weekend treat. Hannah's husband Bruce is a reluctant participant since he's fed up with Mako's lifestyle and privately wants to stop doing piece work for him. Then there's Cricket, Hannah's best friend and Mako's on-again, off-again, not-so-secret lover. She's attending the weekend with latest boyfriend Jason. All three men work in various aspects of computer technology. Mako is the wealthiest, with a successful software game and an event planning company.

It wouldn't be an interesting weekend unless each of them was hiding a secret of sorts—and with a thunderous storm approaching fast. Bracken has concealed cameras everywhere so he can watch human nature play out, or so he tells himself. Liza is immediately afflicted with migraine, retiring for the night. Jason leaves in his car, temporarily—work-related, he says; he's actually meeting a strange woman. Mako is soon loudly drunk, nevertheless exhibiting signs of some business concerns. Bruce is a workaholic, upstairs on his laptop, leaving Hannah to wearily monitor the familiar flirtation between her brother and Cricket as the storm builds. Unknown to the rest, Liza is lured to a cabin on the property by a lover who secretly made her pregnant; but instead she's violently attacked.

An interspersed story follows a man named Henry who truly has mystery origins, as in: daddy was a sperm donor. Thanks to DNA testing, he discovers a very large pool of half-siblings, most of them curious about their father's identity. Henry's early life with mother Alice was rocky and isolating; his life only improved with acquiring a devoted wife and child—except for a disturbing half-sister Cat, whose voice, then presence, breaks into the narrative. The reader naturally wants to guess if or how Henry or Cat might integrate with Mako's group. Family relationships and friendships are a goldmine for writers, mixing numerous elements into a savoury stew. Here, some parts of the plot are fresh, others feel conventional. At least one character needs to be reader-relatable to be truly compelling—I was lukewarm in this regard―especially as the climax seemed forced: the cavalry arrives before they can all kill each other.

Bits

▪ In her family, Hannah is always the good girl, the responsible one, the fixer, the mediator. (27)

▪ Actually, Mako could be enthusiastic to the point of overbearing. (36)

▪ Cricket had legendary bad taste when it came to the men in her life. (52: Hannah)

▪ They'd all have to learn what it meant to lose everything. (52: Cat)

▪ Alice was a great proponent of the idea that you get what you get and don't get upset. (118)

▪ Does he know? she wondered. On some level does he know? (140: Liza)

▪ He didn't want to know who he was, who Alice had been. He only wanted to know who he could become. (168: Henry)

▪ Cricket wouldn't want to admit that Jason's behavior was odd, especially in front of Mako. (191)

▪ Her life was about to blow up and it was her fault. (194: Liza)

▪ He didn't know that I would discover poison in my DNA, or how it would inspire me. (209: Cat)

▪ So many different types of people, all from the same man. A man who was still a mystery to Henry. (308)

▪ "He hurt me. He just took what he wanted. It was like I wasn't even there." (328)

▪ DNA was the language God used to program human beings. (350: Henry)

Katherine St. John. The Lion's Den. 2020. USA: Grand Central Publishing/Hachette, 2021.

Here's a filler read, scavenged from somewhere. I have so many back orders on my TPL waiting list, they may all arrive at once and then what will I do?! So "Lion's Den" happens to be a yacht among other toys owned by billionaire John Lyons, who was snagged as a lover by beautiful twenty-something Summer, the envy of her gold-digging girlfriends. One wonders if the author was being intentionally tongue-in-cheek regarding the shopworn concept of rich old men with eager young women. John decides to have a birthday party onboard for Summer; she can have her best friends flown to the Mediterranean to sail for a week. The cohort includes her mom Rhonda; her younger sister Britanni, who blithely brings her own sexy friend Amythest (spelling sic) without approval; and old friends Wendy and Claire. Not to ignore Belle, Summer's best friend since childhood, our narrator, a struggling actress and woman retaining a healthy outlook of reality.

Before John, Eric was a man Summer was passionate about. In one of life's odd moments, Belle had met Eric without knowing he was dating her friend, and the strong magnetism between them was undeniable. But as a loyal friend, Belle avoided any further personal contact with him, even though they kept in touch. Summer continued to see Eric any time John was travelling for business. Not long before the young women depart for the Riviera, Eric disappears without a trace. A single handwritten note implies a suicide. Even his brother Dylan is confounded. Summer has to hide her hysterical grief from John; Belle, too, privately grieves.

It's clear that narcissistic Summer would do anything not to anger or lose her generous benefactor. It's also clear that John is a regimented personality with whom no one dares argue; life on the yacht has numerous arbitrary rules in place. Such as dictating who will share cabins (where they are locked in at bedtime), where to sit when socializing or dining, use of the yacht's internet, permission required to do just about anything. But dazzled by onshore restaurants, expensive gifts, and the proximity of wealth and celebrity, who would complain if Summer is acting somewhat arrogant? Well, extrovert Amythest would—by seducing their host, which won't remain secret for long. And Belle is wondering why more and more she is becoming the object of Summer's spite. Emailing back and forth with her sister is a way to relieve some frustration, unknowing that communications are being monitored.

Their fantasy yachting life is about to explode in different directions, which cheered me up after all the 'True Romance' machinations. What a turnaround! What a devious story! Missing bodies and control freaks. Gourmet meals and sinister bodyguards. Interesting guests and increasing arguments. The author's gift for turning the minds of scheming women inside out ‒ not without humour! – is as adept as the plot that suddenly changed speed and the pages raced by. What an unexpected, pleasing surprise!

On the yacht

▪ The other girls hand over their passports to him without a second thought, but I hesitate. (41)

▪ I don't claim to be well versed in the ins and outs of Italian (or for that matter, American) business regulations, and sure, none of this maybe exactly illegal, but their casual entitlement displays an unmistakable moral bankruptcy. (118-9)

▪ She may not realize the extent of what I know, but she has to recognize that I'm aware she's less than a loyal friend to me. (127)

▪ How quickly the line between guest and prisoner crumbles, like a sand castle swept away by the sea. (156)

▪ But like Victorian children, John's girls are meant to be seen and not heard, to speak only when spoken to. (179)

▪ "Full disclosure, my mom can't stand her," he whispers. "Or John. She's philosophically opposed to gold-digging as a career choice." (181)

▪ John is a bad man. A really, really bad man. But then, I knew that. (186)

▪ "Don't be stupid. I've warned you once: mind your own business." (236)

▪ "It's not drama," I say. "It's murder."

Before the yacht

▪ She had no problem with me working a club to pay for the apartment she crashed in, but she was too good to do it herself. (166)

▪ Even if my gut instincts about Eric were wrong and he had in fact freaked out on her for dating John, it was still obvious she was covering something up. (221)

▪ Summer picked at her cuticles intently. "That if he can't be with me, life isn't worth living." (223)

▪ Something just didn't add up. (226)

▪ It was my car that was linked to the scene of the crime. (258)

▪ "He wouldn't shut up about how you were sooo smart, sooo talented, and such a natural beauty." (270)

▪ Eric had a picture of me in his bedside table. (273)