July 31, 2017
Challenging the traditional crime story narrative, Whittal focuses on the aftershocks of a crime not from the victim’s perspective, but that of the family of the accused. Beloved by the community of Avalon Hills and revered as a teacher and hero, George Woodbury is arrested for sexual misconduct and attempted rape involving his students. His wife, Joan, and their daughter, Sadie, are paralyzed by shock, denial, and confusion. Eldest son Andrew, a lawyer in New York City, comes to his father’s defense, staunchly protesting the accusations against him. As months pass readers witness the psychological destruction of the family. Shunned by the community, tormented by threats and taunts, and trapped in a pattern of supporting their patriarch despite uncertainties regarding his innocence, each member of the family is ill-equipped to move forward. Sadie succumbs to apathy and anxiety, using drugs as an escape. Andrew is consumed by memories of his youth as a gay teen. Joan is unable to reconcile her conflicting feelings of loyalty and rage towards her husband. The prose is conversational; the reactions predictable; the ending hurried. Some plotlines don’t work, but Whittal brings realism and humanity to the story.
January 22, 2018
Campbell is a seasoned narrator with a lovely, lilting tone who creates easily recognized voices and mannerisms for the diverse characters in Whittall’s latest. Joan’s husband George is universally admired as an upstanding member of his community, as perpetual teacher of the year, and as a hero who saved his daughter and other children from a gun-wielding maniac. Then, suddenly, George lands in jail. He is alleged to have sexually abused more than one of the girls in his daughter’s high school class. Campbell hooks listeners in the gruesome swings between denial and rage experienced by George’s wife, Joan, his daughter, Sadie, and his son, Andrew. At times the characterization of Joan sounds too whiny for a character who otherwise comes across as a strong woman. Nevertheless, Campbell carries listeners convincingly and sympathetically through each family member’s struggle to come to terms with George’s culpability. A Ballantine hardcover.