People Who Bought This Also Bought
-
Findings
Mary Anna Evans
-
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
Victor Pelevin
-
Majipoor Chronicles
Robert Silverberg
-
Night Kill
Ann Littlewood
-
Blindspot
Jane Kamensky, Jill Lepore
-
Seducing the Spirits
Louise Young
-
Sarah
Kaylene Johnson
-
Beggars in Spain
Nancy Kress
Summary
A debut novel by award-winning author Holly Goddard Jones, about the people surprisingly connected to the discovery of a dead woman’s body in a small town
Thirteen-year-old Emily Houchens doesn’t have many friends. She finds more comfort playing make-believe in the woods near her house in Roma, Kentucky, than with her classmates, who find her strange and awkward. When she happens upon a dead body hidden in the woods one day, she decides not to tell anyone about her discovery—a choice that begins to haunt her.
Susanna Mitchell has always been a good girl, the dutiful daughter and wife. While her older sister Ronnie trolled bars for men and often drove home at sunrise, Susanna kept a neat house, a respectable job, and a young daughter. But when Ronnie goes missing and Susanna realizes that she’s the only person in Roma who truly cares about her sister’s fate, she starts to question her quiet life and its value.
The Next Time You See Me is the story of how one woman’s disappearance exposes the ambitions, prejudices, and anxieties of a small southern town and its residents, who are all connected, sometimes in unexpected ways: Emily; Susanna; Tony, a failed baseball star turned detective, aspiring to be the county’s first black sheriff; and Wyatt, a fifty-five-year-old factory worker tormented by a past he can’t change and by a love he doesn’t think he deserves. Their stories converge in a violent climax that reveals not just the mystery of what happened to Ronnie but all of their secret selves.
© 2013 by Holly Goddard Jones
Review Quotes
“The lonely cast of outcasts in The Next Time You See Me has enough heartache for a whole jukebox full of country songs. Holly Goddard Jones spins a tight if heartbreaking tale, always keeping the reader leaning forward.”
Stewart O’Nan, New York Times bestselling author
“So rich in character. I loved the subtlety and complexity of Wyatt and
Sarah, and of course, Susanna, the whole thing woven deftly together
with a light hand. An immensely satisfying and skillful debut novel.”
Kate Atkinson, New York Times bestselling author
“The Next Time You See Me gives readers all the pleasures of the best mystery novels as well as the finest literary fiction. No matter gender, age, or social class, Jones’ boundless empathy renders characters who are vivid, complex, utterly realized. She is an exceptionally talented writer.”
Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author
“The Next Time You See Me is an astoundingly good novel. Holly Goddard Jones writes with authority and a deep generosity about a large swath of humanity within a small town: Outsiders and insiders, middle-schoolers and the middle-aged, the violent and the violated, the lost and the found—and all those in between. The result is simply mesmerizing.”
Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author
“Jones ties together the narratives effectively, cycling point of view between the three main players.”
Publishers Weekly
“Have you turned the last pages of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and don’t know what to pick up next? Try Holly Goddard Jones’ debut novel, The Next Time You See Me, which Flynn herself has called ‘simply mesmerizing.’ In this page-turner, Jones returns to the territory of her wonderful story collection, Girl Trouble. Like Flynn, she not only creates young women with troubles, she also vividly depicts a part of the country often obscured from view…Jones builds suspense as she creates problematic small-town America characters. She deftly avoids cliché in her depiction of the town’s outsiders—and insiders.”
Chicago Tribune
“Jones’ well-crafted tale captures small-town nuances while exploring the individual psychologies of her characters and their struggles.”
Booklist
“The residents of a small Kentucky town react to the disappearance of a local woman in this first novel by short-story writer Jones…[The author] builds intense tension surrounding the choices her flawed but compellingly sympathetic characters make as they fight against lonely isolation within the tight confines of small-town America.”
Kirkus Reviews
Listener Review
1 out of 1 (100%) recommend this product
Write a review-
Very hard to put down!
April 4, 2013This book was very hard to put down it has bullying of kids and adults, a missing person, a murder, old loves returning and some very, very flawed people but it comes together in a fabulous story. I don’t want to give any spoilers but there was a certain storyline that I hoped would be a red herring and am amazed that the author made me feel bad for a murderer but I was emotionally invested and it was a great twist well an emotional twist for me. All these different characters with nary a thing in common all find themselves thrown into the drama of Ronnie’s disappearance some in ways that will leave you shaking your head in wonder.
Cassandra Campbell’s narration was wonderful as always she truly brought these characters to life and there was a wide variety of characters in the book from teens to older men. Every character has a voice of their own with her wonderful sense of subtlety that makes her such a great narrator.
This is a great story I highly recommend this book especially on audio!
4 Stars
I received this book from the Audiobookjukebox and Blackstone Audio for a fair and honest review.
Reader Bio:
Cassandra Campbell, Audie-nominated narrator and winner of several Earphones Awards, has performed in regional theaters across the country and in several off-Broadway shows at the Public Theater and the Mint Theater. In addition to narrating audio books, acting, and directing, she is a commercial and documentary voice-over artist.
