The Darlings by Cristina Alger

The Darlings by Cristina Alger
Published by Pamela Dorman Books ISBN 9781101560310
Hardcover, $26.95

Summary from the publisher's website:

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.

Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.

But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?

Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.

I read this novel expecting it to be a take on the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. To a certain extent it was, being about a family whose work and family lives were entangled in a financial scandal.  Carter Darling employed both of his sons-in-laws, one of whom was just along for the ride and one, Paul, who just came aboard after losing his job as an attorney at the beginning of the recession.

Not  many of the wealthy characters are very likable in this book, except for Paul and Merrill. Although Carter came from a working-class background, he was now one of the 1%ers. He spoiled his wife and daughters, and lived a lifestyle to which most people cannot relate. 

While reading this book, I thought that there were too many tangential characters. They didn't seem to be moving the story along, I didn't know why they were there. By the end of the story, Alger had put all of the pieces of the puzzle together so cleverly I had to admire her skill. Every character leads to something important.

I also enjoyed her descriptions of characters, like this one: 

"Theresa Frankel was a middle-aged woman who looked as though she resided permanently at the intersection of boredom and disinterest."

One sentence and you knew immediately who Teresa was.

The Darlings is a well-crafted story, and even if you don't like most of the characters, you'll want to see where this story is going. And Alger throws in a twist at the end that is a game-changer.

rating 4 of 5

The Last Letter From Your Lover by JoJo Moyes

The Last Letter From Your Lover by JoJo Moyes
Published by Pamela Dorman Books/Viking ISBN 9780670022809
Hardcover $26.95

I'm going to be honest and say that until I finished this novel, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. The Last  Letter From Your Lover by JoJo Moyes is the kind of book that you think, OK, this book is all right, and since I read it everyday on my Kindle on the treadmill, I just stuck with it.

I'm glad I did, because the manner in which Moyes ties everything together in the end is so rewarding and there is one moment that is so jawdropping, I almost fell off the treadmill; I did not see that one coming. (And I like to think that I have read so many novels, there is not much that could surprise me.)

Moyes begins her story in London in 1964, where Jennifer is in a hospital recovering from a horrible car accident. She has no memory of her life and doesn't know her own husband. When her memory doesn't return, she lives in a kind of nowhere-land, only knowing what her husband and friends tell her about her life.

Until the day she finds a love letter to her from a man named B. Apparently she was in love with him, and they were planning to run away together. She has no memory of him or this letter, but she feels something inside that tells her it is true.

This story is intercut with Ellie, a young writer for a London newspaper, unhappily involved with a married man. She is on the verge of losing her job when she finds B's love letter to Jennifer and believes that there is a story there.

Even though almost 50 years has passed, Ellie tries to track down Jennifer and B, and her hope is that they have been together all this time, thereby proving that true love is possible.

There are so many writers who use the conceit of two different stories in two different times, sometimes it can be, "oh, no, not again", but Moyes uses it to tie her novel together in a meaningful way that serves the story well.

B and Jennifer's love story is star-crossed to say the least, and the mystery of will they get together or not propels the plot forward, and I couldn't wait to find out the answer.

The characters are well-rounded, the writing seductive and the style of dress and copious drinking from 1964 is very Mad Men-like and trendy now. Moyes took awhile to entrance me with her love story, but when the book ended, I wanted to stand up and applaud. Well done, indeed!

rating 4.5 of 5