Release date: March 11, 2025
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Putnam
Synopsis:
“The missing boy is 10-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he’s a little shit.”
Florence Grimes, age thirty-one, always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl-band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen-food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect.
Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name or risk losing Dylan forever—never mind that she has no useful skills (let alone investigative ones) and that all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and she has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe.
Review:
This was an absolute blast and filled with sarcastic humor and wit, an engaging central mystery, an amateur sleuth and a compelling overall story. While Florence wasn’t likable in the slightest there was something refreshing about the way she was unapologetically herself. She did annoy me at times, but then at others she made me laugh so there was some balance there. I loved her relationship with Jenny and thought they made an entertaining, if unlikely duo. The whole thing was wild and definitely requires the suspension of disbelief but I just had a good time with it and was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t fully figure out what happened to Alfie before Florence did. If snarky humor and flawed characters are your thing try this!
Overall rating: 4/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
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