Novels No. 108

 

T. Kira Madden. Whidbey. USA: Mariner Books, 2026.

Birdie Chang is on her way to Whidbey Island, off-grid for the summer, to hide from negative media scrutiny and from released convict Calvin Boyer who may try to hurt her again. On the ferry, inexplicably, she confides this to a stranger, Rich Anani, who (also inexplicably) offers to kill the man for her. Several victims’ testimonies – including her friend Francine’s – convicted Boyer as a pedophile, but Birdie’s was dismissed in court as a ten-year-old’s fabrication. Thus, what really happened to Birdie is unclear; she’s afraid of Boyer but her feelings seem conflicted. Now Linzie King, another victim, has published a tell-all book full of lies, purloining some of Birdie’s experience. Birdie’s partner Trace forbids her to read the book, knowing how upsetting it will be. Then Calvin is killed by a hit-and-run driver, mourned only by his deluded but loyal mother Mary-Beth; her sister Sylvia knows better.

Birdie learns news of the death when she secretly attends one of Linzie’s nearby book signings (of course she’s been reading the book) but does not get to confront her. When she hears the word murder being whispered, she thinks Rich made good his offer. But she also knows, if it’s true, that she herself would be a suspect. She has threatening emails from Calvin but where are the tapes he made? Later in life Linzie participates in a television dating show where unknowingly she’s set up for public shaming by the duplicitous producers. Hence she’s a traumatic wreck, becoming dependent on Yale, the true author of her book. Personal trauma becomes like an industry. Whidbey’s author lifts layer after layer off these dysfunctional people.

Madden’s style is inimitable and immediately engaging, exposing how predators exploit the pain of needy or damaged people. Birdie is an enigma much of the time, the only real mystery. Is it odd that near the end the author begins to directly address the reader? She might mess with your head if you don’t keep your wits finely tuned. Sheer genius?

Hints

▪ Trace couldn’t join me on Whidbey—the aloneness was kind of the point. The Walden experience. The great quiet. The anonymity. (24)

▪ Syl thought of them as low-lifers, Mary Beth knew, embarrassed of her sister working the gas pumps, her nephew on the you-know-what registry, unless she was swooping in to help them. (36)

▪ Calvin Boyer made me feel special. Before we get to the villain of him, you should know he listened to me. He was kind to me, an online companion, and the son of our school bus driver—there was no reason not to trust him. (Linzie’s book, 56)

▪ That’s how this death pain felt, a rubber band stretched beneath the bones of Mary-Beth’s feet, then secured at the top of her skull where headaches came on. (83)

▪ If what I did was really that bad why did you come to my house after Francine did? Francine told you what would happen. That I liked you both. (From one of Cal’s letters, 157)

▪ “They CONNED you. They chose your narrative, and you followed like a duckling. This is Manipulation Tactics, 101.” (Yale, 218)

▪ Ms Boyer, Odette said. Linzie’s book’s an abomination, we both know this. And she’s directly profiting off the death of your son. (225)

Lauren Ling Brown. Society of Lies. USA: Bantam Books, 2024.

It’s Princeton University world, as experienced by two young women. The private eating clubs were new to me, where the majority of upperclassmen eat, party, and network. Invitations and initiations are involved. Maya attended Princeton ten years ago on scholarship; now her beloved sister Naomi is graduating. Both are/were members of Sterling House but also of its exclusive secret society, Greystone—quite a privilege for girls of humble origins and mixed parentage in a milieu where racism is alive and well. But Naomi is found dead – drowned in the lake – during a celebratory evening. Maya is stunned; she can’t accept it as an accident. Did anyone want to harm her sister? She wants the truth, no matter how painful, and that means talking to people close to Naomi. People like her ex-boyfriend Liam, and Professor Matthew DuPont, an influential force in Greystone.

I’m struggling for brief but salient words on a complex novel of many threads and nuances. What follow are parallel tracks—Naomi’s months before she died and the back story of Maya’s own Princeton days. Similar paths are evident in how they made friends, being tapped for an elite club, and falling in love. Maya-past and Maya-present are distinct in what she knew or learned at different times. Disturbingly, Naomi’s death reminds Maya of her friend Lila’s fatal accident years ago. Having failed to protect her sister, she’s determined to investigate her suspicions that Greystone’s smug facade hides something dangerous. Members are for life, powerful enough to have any indiscretions erased; bribery or blackmail work well, as Maya becomes a victim herself. She keeps it all to herself, not telling future husband Nathan, nor her friends who had championed her Greystone entry.

A challenging read, for sure. The weaving together of two chilling stories doubles the tension, each sister in turn trying to expose corruption and crimes with different methods – and outcomes. Although the societies are fictional, this collaborative world emits the sour taste of reality.

Maya

▪ Lila’s warning surfaced in my thoughts again. A whisper, louder this time: Get out while you can. GET OUT! (107)

▪ This man had a life I’d never dreamed possible for someone like me. And yet he too had started with nothing ... Maybe being close to Professor DuPont was the way to a better life for Naomi. (114)

▪ “They let you in because right now it’s a good look to have one light-skinned Black girl around.” (168)

▪ “A lot of people here are extremely connected. Sons and daughters of some of the most powerful people in the world. Sometimes our alumni need things, and we find ways to help them.” (185)

▪ Did she realize how much was at stake for all of us? For me? If something happened to Greystone, that would mean the end of my lifeline to my sister. (199)

Naomi

▪ Between our age difference and our parents passing when we were so young, Maya acts more like a parent than a sister most of the time. (45)

▪ I haven’t told Liam about Amy’s research. I trust him, but he’s a member of Greystone, and close with DuPont too. (146)

▪ “She found emails from the dean of admissions—Greystone was straight-up paying him to let their alums’ kids into the school ... Greystone covered up their part, they were never named in the scandal, just let the dean take the fall for it.” (147)

▪ I’ve been helping Amy all week, reading articles, talking to alumni under the pretense of “informational interviews,” and now my head hurts. (153)

▪ What does he mean, me of all people? How much does he know about the investigation? Does he know Amy’s behind it? (195)