Cul-de-sac

March 1, 2021

High-aspiring Maggie and her underwhelming husband; accomplished medical professionals Nick and Dani; elderly widow Julia and her just-moved-in grandson; heavy-drinking, suddenly jobless Sean, who is envious of successful wife Olivia; and recently married, already quarreling Aiden and Heidi. These families all live in a Florida cul-de-sac whose quiet night air is soon shattered by gunshot--because everyone here is troubled, and they all have guns.

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August 2, 2021
This gripping psychological thriller from Fielding (All the Wrong Places) focuses on the occupants of five identical two-story homes on a cul-de-sac in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in the two months leading up to a Fourth of July weekend when simmering resentments finally boil over. Wife beating, alcoholism, PTSD, depression, and free-floating anxiety are all to be found in the cul-de-sac, where every household has at least one gun. (One troubled resident thinks to himself, “This is Florida, after all, where guns are as accessible as gummy bears.”) The fulcrum of the large ensemble cast is Maggie MacKay, who moved to Palm Beach Gardens with her husband and two children to escape a threat in L.A. Maggie’s husband recently moved out because he could no longer cope with what he calls her paranoia. Despite her fears, Maggie decides she must take action to help her neighbors in peril. As Fielding slowly reveals each character’s secrets, she nicely upsets readers’ perceptions and expectations as they try to figure out who will be the first to snap—and who will die. Suspense fans will be well rewarded. Agent: Tracy Fisher, WME.

Starred review from June 1, 2021
In a cul-de-sac somewhere in Florida, there will be a shooting. We know that going into the book. We also know one of the residents of the small, horseshoe-shaped street will be the shooter. As we meet the street's residents (the newly separated mother, the domineering oncologist, the man who's lying to his wife), and as we observe the interplay between them, peering into their bedrooms and eavesdropping on their conversations, we start to wonder: Will he explode into violence? Will she? Fielding's latest novel is about as perfect a character-based thriller as you can find. Told in the present tense, in alternating chapters narrated by some of the main characters, the story becomes darker and more threatening as it progresses, until we sense the inevitable: something terrible is about to happen. Eventually, each chapter that ends without tragedy creates in the reader a palpable sense of relief. Until the relief ends. In the residents of an ordinary-looking cul-de-sac, Fielding has created some of her strongest, most compelling characters. An outstanding thriller and a perfect beach read.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Fielding's built-in audience will jump-start demand, but expect a late-summer boom as the book starts turning up in beach bags everywhere.

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August 13, 2021

The latest thriller by Fielding (All the Wrong Places) is set in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, a neighborhood of cookie-cutter, builder-grade suburban houses set along the horseshoe of a dead-end street. Five nearly identical houses contain interwoven tales and unseen dramas behind closed doors where there are as many opportunities for redemption as there are paths to ruination. One hot July night, a loud sound punctures the silence of the sleeping neighborhood. Firecrackers or a backfiring car seem the likeliest source although neighbors Maggie McKay, Nick Wilson, Sean Grant, Julia Fisher, and Aiden Young each possess a gun with motivation to pull the trigger. New resident Maggie struggles with debilitating fear, but her sensitivity to violence impels her to confront Nick, who is hypercritical and abusive toward his wife. Meanwhile, unemployed Sean feels like a failure, former soldier Aiden suffers from PTSD, and Julia's live-in grandson owes money to his dealer. VERDICT Fielding pulls back the curtains of the neighborhood, allowing readers to spy on the neighbors as they spy on each other. As voyeuristically engaging as Hitchcock's Rear Window, this psychological thriller elicits the page-turning urgency equivalent of trying desperately to see something just out of frame.--Laura Cifelli, Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Myers, FL

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.