I was drawn to the book because it was based around a real life story. I like how aspects of the RLS was interwoven into this storyline. I thought it was a true psychological thriller and it kept me reading late into the night.

I also love the tropical cover.

Reef Road is told in two points of view and we don’t know for a good portion of the book how those two narratives are connected. It is loosely based on a true story and if you are a true crime fan, this would be enjoyable. This is by far my favorite true crime fiction/non fiction Ive ever read, but it was a solid effort. I didnt love it or hate it.

SUMMARY
The Wife - Linda Alonsos, and her husband, Miguel, live on Reef Road in Palm Beach during the Pandemic with their two young children. Linda’s mother has passed away, and her father is in assisted living facility struggling with dementia. Linda and Miguel’s marriage has been strained lately. When Miguel and her children go missing, Linda’s life turns upside down.

The Writer - The writer is sitting on a nearby beach when two teenage boys find a severed hand that has washed ashore. She is a middle-aged woman obsessed with solving the 1948 murder of her mother’s childhood best friend. The writer believes Linda may be able to help her with information about the murder, and she furtively endeavors to get as close to Linda as possible.

REVIEW
Reef Road is an interesting and intriguing mystery. The story starts off slow but becomes a page-turner halfway through. When the lives of The Wife and The Writer collide, it's non-stop scheming. It's a unique and convoluted thriller.

The unsolved real-life murder of Noelle Huber in 1948 inspired the story. Noelle was the best friend of author Deborah Goodrich Royce’s mother. This story examines how a crime affects the families of those directly involved.

Royce’s book themes typically examine questions of identity. Previous novels have included Finding Mrs. Ford (2019) and Ruby Falls (2022).

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher Post Hill Press and publicist Kathie Bennett for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I met author Deborah Royce at the start of her immense book tour for Reef Road. If her book tour comes to a location near you, I highly encourage you to attend. She is an amazing storyteller.

“It was easy to cross the next barrier in an ever-collapsing string of them.”

Deborah Goodrich Royce’s novel, Reef Road, begins in 2020 with the discovery of a severed human hand that washes up in Palm Beach Florida. From that point, the novel splits into two storylines: one is told by “the wife” Linda Alonso and “the writer” Noelle. Middle-aged Noelle lives a lonely life in Florida and her life is overshadowed (stained) by the 1948 unsolved brutal murder of an eight-year-old girl (also called Noelle). Noelle, the writer’s mother, was permanently damaged by the brutal murder of her friend, and that damage ricocheted to her daughter, Noelle, subsequently named after the murder. So here are these two women: Linda and Noelle. How are they connected?

Linda Alonso lives in an upscale neighborhood with her Argentinean husband, Miguel, and two small children. We know almost immediately that Linda is unhappy in her marriage, and Miguel, as portrayed, is a controlling perfectionist–the sort or person who makes you grit your teeth as you wait for the criticism to fall. At first, Noelle seems just interested in Linda, but over the course of the book, it becomes obvious that this interest is a full-blown obsession.

These two women connect over crime–past and present–when Miguel and the two children disappear. Miguel’s car is found at Miami International airport, and there is evidence that he absconded with the children to Argentina. The lockdown has just began, and with flight restrictions due to COVID, Linda cannot travel to search for her children.

While the idea of this slow-burn novel is intriguing, the two stories which connect in inventive and intriguing ways feel strangely apart. This may be due to the long sections from Noelle regarding the details of the 1948 murder, which was, by the way, based on the very real murder of the author’s mother’s friend. It may be due to some essential information withheld from the plot. With the double use of the name Noelle, there were unclear moments. I liked how the author used COVID in the plot, and I liked the way these two storylines finally collided. The vicious murder of Noelle left scars in the lives of those connected to the crime, and the author cleverly conveys that sense of damage.

review copy

Thank you to the author Deborah Goodrich Royce, publisher Post Hill Press, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of REEF ROAD in exchange for my honest opinion.

I ended up loving this book. The ending is well done. Royce developes her character just right to fill their roles in the story and serve up surprise after surprise in the last 50 pages.

Royce also gets huge credit for doing appropriate research (or maybe she has experience, I assume nothing) into the mental illness community she depicts in the fascinating character, The Writer, who becomes identified later in the story. Her depiction of this character and her disability is both mindful and informative.

This book is a bit of a slow burn, but it really picks up closer to the halfway point. Also, while it's hard to win me over with alternating timelines and POVs (especially both!), I wound up agreeing with this stylistic choice as well. It really is an entertaining read!

Rating: 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦.5 / 5 families with secrets
Recommend? Definitely!
Finished: January 14 2023
Read this if you like:
👤 Mental health rep
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family drama
🗣 Great narrators
👥️ Alternating POVs
🕰 Alternating timelines
🔪 Murder

I saw the tropical cover, investigated further and saw it takes place in Florida, and it was based on a true crime, what more could I ask for?

The book starts out slow and I am wondering how the two storylines will come together.

Author Deborah Goodrich Royce mother’s best friend was murdered. In Reef Road, we have a writer whose mother’s best friend was murdered and she never recovered from it. Her life was wrapped around her mother’s inability to move on. We, also, have a woman whose husband and two children disappear. These two points of view come together takes place during the pandemic lockdown. How convenient.

Two boys, on a beach where they aren’t supposed to be, don’t even notice the woman sitting alone, when they find a hand.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do with this?”

Isn’t that what you would expect coming out of their mouth? And, the mystery begins.

Not only do we have the pandemic, murder, a missing husband and kids, we also have 9.11. There is so much going on and the flip flopping back and forth, made it seem like I was reading two books at once, was confusing for me. It does come together in a weird way in the second half of the book and that is what saves it for me. By then, I was devouring the pages. I had to know how Deborah Goodrich Royce would wrap up Reef Road.

I enjoyed the story and would read more of Deborah Goodrich Royce’s work.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

An unsolved murder creates damage that reverberates through decades.

This is a mystery that reads like true crime and is very hard to put down. Even as you imagine you know where it's going, the writing style and the narrative told in alternating points of view will keep you pushing on, analyzing, and guessing all the while.

The past: in 1948, Noelle Grace Huber was stabbed 36 times in the kitchen of her home while she was baking a cake. Her parents were not home at the time. She was 12 years old. No-one was ever arrested or convicted for the crime. It was senseless and tragic, and everyone who knew the family suffered for years.

The present: it's 2020 and the COVID pandemic has created a lockdown in Palm Beach, Florida. A young wife discovers that her family has gone missing. A middle-aged writer is working on a book about the murder of her mother's best friend. Why is the writer so interested in Linda Alonso and her children? Then, a severed hand is found on the beach.

Past and present collide in spectacular fashion as truth and lies are exposed. There are some great reveals and twists along the way. I enjoyed this very much though it is a bit of a slow burner as the author sets the stage. The two female characters have traits and behaviors that I both loved and hated, and they certainly challenge beliefs about justice and revenge. Looking forward to reading other reviews and comments on this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Murder, mystery, infidelity, secrets, truth/lies, the pandemic, stalkers, Argentina’s ‘Dirty War.’ All of these come together in Deborah Goodrich Royce’s novel, Reef Road. The ingredients are there for a rip-roaring story when two boys find a severed arm on a deserted beach in Palm Beach, Florida. The story, based partially on a true story, is told through two points of view: The Wife and The Writer. There are some interesting twists and turns and even surprises as the story develops. My reaction varied from intense interest to frustrated boredom. Neither The Wife nor The Writer are particularly endearing characters. They both are very flawed and don’t elicit much empathy. Some of their actions actually don’t seem realistic even in the story’s unusual circumstances. I have very mixed reactions to this book and particularly the ending, which I found disappointing. Thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press Book for an advanced readers copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

While this book had some great twists, it took me a really long time to get into it. I enjoyed the true crime aspect of the story and liked that it touched on unhealed generational scars, but the first half of the book didn’t grab my attention right away. I was initially curious about what really happened with Linda’s husband who disappeared with her two children, but the chapter’s from Noelle’s POV didn’t really make sense until she revealed her connection to Linda. Overall, it was an ok story, but it didn’t blow me away.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

This is the first book I’ve read by this author.’
I failed to connect the two sections of the story until half way through when it’s revealed.
I found this book to be strange and disconcerting. I didn’t like any of the character and found Linda repulsive and Noelle, the writer, creepy.
The writing was ok, it was just a weird juxtaposition.

Happy Pub Day for Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce.

4.5 A most uniquely written book by author Deborah Goodrich Royce, with her own unsolved murder mystery in her family. The book begins with two teen boys out to surf one morning (during Covid when the beach was closed) only to find a human hand with a ring on a finger lying on the beach. This stayed in my head all the way to the end of the book! The story is told by The Writer, memoir/ true crime, and by The Wife, murder mystery. The Wife's husband and two small children are missing, yet she didn't call the police until the next day after they don't come home. Hmm.... The Writer who writes murder mysteries is intentionally trying to meet The Wife, but why?

My thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for an advanced reader copy of this book. And my thanks to Elizabeth Barnhill @wacoreads for putting this book on my radar.

This book starts off strong: two boys find a severed hand on the beach in Florida. The rest of the story alternates between "the wife" and "the writer", as we slowly build up to who the hand belonged to and how it got there, and how the stories of these two women interconnect --you know they must and when you finally find out how, it is definitely a twist. I enjoyed the story but I didn't particularly like or sympathize with either of the main characters and the ending left me feeling kind of unsatisfied, but I still recommend the book!

Slow-paced thriller about a murder that happened in 1948. This novel is set during the pandemic, and I didn't love it. I've had enough of masks and lockdowns, that I don't feel excited to relive that in a novel anytime soon. The story itself was quite interesting, told through three different voices, but the characters felt flat, and as such I never truly felt for any of them.

2.5 stars

This book was a slow, slow burn. It's told from two perspectives and mostly alternates between events of 2019 and 2020. The first perspective is that of "The Writer" (we don't find out her name until later) whose mother was best friends with a girl who was murdered in 1948 and the case was never solved. The second perspective is that of "The Wife"--Linda, a married mother of two who lives in Palm Beach, FL. At the beginning of the pandemic, two boys find a human hand on the beach. This is the propelling incident that moves the story forward.

This book didn't connect with me as well as it should have. The incident in 1948 is based on the author's own mother's experience, so it seems a bit like true crime. Yet there are no characters in this book that I rooted for, none that I even warmed to or liked. Both of the main characters make awful choices and although everything is basically fully explained in the end, there aren't any real surprises.

I'm also done with pandemic set books unless there's a real reason for including it. Not enough time has passed for me to have a desire to re-live those experiences. It serves somewhat of a purpose in this story, but not enough for it to be necessary. The author could have creatively found a way to write the story without it.

I found myself often bored while reading, there's not much action and the pacing is all over the place, but mostly slow. I know many others have thoroughly loved this book, so possibly the author's writing style is just not for me.

Discussions group with enjoy Reef Road, the story of a writer in Palm Beach, FL working to uncover clues in an unsolved murder of a young girl in Pittsburgh in 1948. Noelle, the writer, finds herself living near Linda, a woman whose has a family connection to the crime. The novel interlaces the crime story, the family history, and the 2020 pandemic. The clever construction of the novel will engage readers. Highly recommended.

Two young Palm Beach brothers head out to surf in the early days of the pandemic, ignoring instructions to stay home. They happen on a severed hand, complete with gold band, which has washed ashore. They place it in a bag and take with them. Unbeknownst to them, an older woman sits on the same beach, watching them. They never saw her or even looked in passing in her direction. Over on Reef Road, a young woman who seemingly had a perfect life is frantic over the disappearance of her husband and two children. An older woman, a writer named Noelle after the murdered childhood best friend of her mother, lives alone with her dog. She is obsessed with the murder, and has been thoroughly researching it from every angle. The women meet at the local grocery store and became friends, though afterwards, Noelle’s behavior begins to make her seem like a bit of a stalker. Both women have secrets, and Noelle offers to help Linda, but wants something in return. As the pressure builds, more of the secrets are exposed.

“Reef Road” by Deborah Goodrich-Royce is loosely based on a true story, though the novel itself is fictional. The book is written from the narrator’s (Noelle’s) point of view, divided into chapters labeled “The Writer” and “The Wife,” as though Noelle is writing her memoir or a “tell-all” about the chain of events which take place. It’s a story of trauma inflicted by an outside source that, when unaddressed, turns into generational trauma, as broken parents raise broken children. (Shakespeare wrote about the phenomenon of generational trauma often throughout his work. To quote “The Merchant of Venice,” “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children”). It’s a lesson about the pain humans both hand down to and inflict upon each other, as well as the ugliness of revenge and passing judgement, and it’s wrapped in an exciting and original premise. The pressures and unique challenges of living through the Pandemic lock-down and its mounting frustrating are addressed beautifully. The writing is impeccable, and there are red herrings and plenty of twists to keep the reader questioning their own conclusions. I have the other two novels by Ms. Goodrich-Royce in my unread book stack, and now that I’ve finished Reef Road, I’m chomping at the bit to crack them open. I loved “Reef Road,” and if you like a good thrill ride, I believe you will, too! (Trigger warnings: marital rape and domestic abuse)

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Deborah Goodrich-Royce, and Post Hill Press for the ability to read and review this ARC.

Reef Road
By Deborah Goodrich Royce
Pub Date: January 10, 2023
Post Hill Press
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I was drawn to this book by the description and cover. I have never read this author but the premise the book is based on sounded interesting.
Once we learn why the writer is haunted by Linda's life, it gets interesting. But that is halfway through the story. The first half of the story is kind of slow in the buildup. There was not enough pizzaz in the beginning. The second half was a page turner. The pacing was uneven. I liked the story but felt it could have been better if the first half was tightened up. Strange ending.
3 stars

Linda is married with two kids and 30 years before she was born her aunt was murdered although she lives a charmed life it will be that murder of her aunt that will tear down life as she knows it. During the Covid lockdown her husband will leave with her two children and yet she will refuse to file a police report and this isn’t the only terrible thing to happen to her. It seems the place is coming present and whether it’s her past her husband or her fathers they all seem to want to visit with Glenda and she will feel the repercussions. This was such a crazy book I didn’t want to give anything away but just know there’s a stalker and OMG the stalker is a lunatic. This was one of the craziest yet best stories I have read in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed the story I love this formatting and how everything was saved as a surprise for the reader and OMG was I surprised. if you love a good thriller and a great mystery wrapped up with the stalker you’ll love reef Road I certainly did and can’t say enough about it it truly was a fabulous thrilling read a definite five star book. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A thriller that really kept the pages turning. I did not see all of the twists coming and was very invested in this story.

EXCERPT: 'Please look?'
When his brother sounded like the little kid he used to be, Colson stopped. There was a plaintive note that made him drop his board and approach the seagulls, waving his hands to disperse them.
The seagulls did not like it one bit. Whatever they had gotten hold of, they wanted to keep.
'Beat it!' Colson yelled, kicking sand at them. He watched as one gull almost took off, nearly lifting into the air with the object secured in his beak. But it proved to be too heavy for him and he dropped it.
Both Rand and Colson lunged forward. It was hard to tell who identified it first. Rand's tanned face paled and he turned his head to vomit, avoiding the item on the sand. Colson did not throw up, although he confessed to his brother that he could have.
'Fuck,' Colson said. 'It's a hand.'

ABOUT 'REEF ROAD': When a severed hand washes ashore in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, Florida, the lives of two women—a lonely writer obsessed with the unsolved murder of her mother’s best friend and a panicked wife whose husband has disappeared with their children—collide as the world shutters in the pandemic lockdown of 2020.
A young woman’s life seems perfect until her family goes missing. A writer lives alone with her dog and collects arcane murder statistics. What each of them stands to lose as they sneak around the do-not-enter tape blocking Reef Road beach is exposed by the steady tightening of the cincture encircling them.

MY THOUGHTS: Great beginning, but by 50% I was ready to throw in the towel. At 51% something happened that made me sit up, take notice and think that perhaps the author was going to redeem herself. It was definitely an interesting twist that showed a promise which, unfortunately, remained unfulfilled. I struggled on to the end, unimpressed.
The premise of the novel is great, but I couldn't form any sort of connection with the characters. There is a great deal of pontification and I found myself skimming large tracts of text until something caught my eye and I would resume reading. I think that I just do not like the author's style of writing.
Most people have loved this novel, so please check out other more positive reviews before deciding whether or not to read Reef Road.

⭐⭐

#ReefRoad #NetGalley

I: @deborahgoodrichroyceofficial @post_hill_press

T: @royce_deborah @PostHillPress

#contemporaryfiction #crime #familydrama #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Deborah began her career as an actress. After the birth of her daughters, she moved with her family to Paris, then New York where she oversaw readers, manuscript acquisitions, and script development. She and her husband Chuck have restored the 1939 Avon Theatre in Stamford, CT and several hotels.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Post Hill Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

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