The Undoing by Averil Dean
(Excerpt from Goodreads) On a bitter January evening, three people are found murdered in the isolated Blackbird hotel.
Best friends since childhood, Eric, Rory and Celia have always been inseparable. Together they’ve coped with broken homes and damaged families, clinging to each other as they’ve navigated their tenuous lives. Their bond is potent and passionate—and its intensity can be volatile.
When the trio decides to follow Celia’s dream of buying and renovating the Blackbird, a dilapidated hotel that sits on the perilous cliffs of Jawbone Ridge, new jealousies arise and long-held suspicions start to unravel their relationship. Soon they find themselves pushed to the breaking point, where trust becomes doubt, longing becomes obsession, and someone will commit the ultimate betrayal.
An unflinching story of ambition, desire and envy, The Undoing traces the events leading to that fateful night, revealing the intimate connections, dark secrets and terrible lies that wove them together—and tore them apart.
My Review
4 stars
We start the book with Julian Moss leaping to his death from a pine tree into a ravine. From there the story revolves around three people: Eric, Rory, and Celia. Celia and Rory are step siblings. Their parents married when they were around 10 years of age. Both are best friends with Eric, who comes with his own baggage that helps keep the three together. Together they buy and start renovating an old hotel, the Blackbird. But jealousy starts to run rampant and the tight group is going to be broken apart.
This was an interesting read, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The story is told backward. You start with Julian committing suicide, his arrival at the Blackbird the day before, and on from there. I admit that I was kinds of lost at the beginning of each chapter and had to keep flipping back and forth to figure out where in time that part of the story was at. But this is a story that you need to read it that way. You just get the feeling that there is more to the story but it was better revealed in reverse.
This was a good thriller and I admit that I couldn’t figure out what was going on until the end. It was such a tangle of selfishness, jealousy, and such that it took me a while to figure out what really happened. This is a great story and if you like messed up romances, selfish playboys, and an old hotel that is being remodeled for a bed and bath, you will really like this story.
To purchase The Undoing make sure to visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Averil Dean’s website.
I received The Undoing for free from Harlequin/MIRA/HQN in exchange for an honest review.
Dean Economics and Alyssa Machinis
