Poor Barb. She just can’t stay out of trouble, no matter how hard she tries. But this time she has a good reason: family friend Colt Baron has gone missing. When soccer mom, Barbara Marr, and her ex-FBI husband, Howard, begin following clues in a search for their treasured pal, they find themselves crashing a rather racy sort of party – a soiree for swinging couples. Awkward. What they learn there is…interesting. But the question is, does the information lead them to Colt?
Cantwell had left Barb on such a heart-pounding cliffhanger, but the consequences leave an uneven follow-up. Taking place almost a month since the car accident, retirement has left Howard dealing with not only a lengthy road of physical therapy but the listlessness. Meanwhile, Barb is going through her own hell that is menopause and the mood swings that come with it. Meaning she is taking everything a bit too defensively and the root of her own problems.
I like how Cantwell tries to insert some more introspection with Barbara in acknowledging the flaws of her own behavior, and show some maturity in that she doesn’t know her mother as well as she thought and maybe she’s at at place where she can get to know her better. I also enjoyed the new dynamic of her investigatin with her husband. But the potential clash between their detective styles and their new way of connecting aren’t given much page time or depth.
Rather Cantwell throws three different mysteries into the adventure with none of the threads feeling developed. It just felt like it was jumping from one red herring to the other. And the time-jump between makes me feel like the reader missed potentially exciting developments. Colt’s relationship with his son. Callie’s reaction to her dad’s accident. Barbara’s friend moving away. All could have emotional weight but because of the time skip, we are left with all good status quo that the characters have adjusted but the readers are catching up. I’m left with some comedy but no real conection to the characters or the situations.
3 stars
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