Story for the Week
Hello, my name is Nancy (hi, Nancy), and I am the parent of an adult child. 🤯
To be fair, I’ve had an adult child for about eight months now, but Corinne was still in high school until May. Two weeks ago, we celebrated her high school graduation, and the week after, she registered for her university classes. She also finished training at her new job, so on Father’s Day she worked her first shift at Denny’s managing her own tables. It feels official now.
Next spring, as part of the honors program where she’ll be attending university, she should be in Liverpool, England (Will We See Tottenham Hotspur FC In 2025?). I’m expecting another slap-in-the-face realization then, so prepare yourselves. 😉
One of the perks of having an adult child, though, is building the friendship side of the parent/child relationship. Corinne and I have always had a good relationship. But as she’s grown as a teenager, especially after we lost her father, our roles with one another have become more casual.
Don’t get me wrong. She still tells me where she’s going, who she’ll be with. She still lives in my house, after all, and I still pay for the car that she drives. That’s just generally respectful. The difference in the last several years, though, is in her understanding of where the lines are. She knows that I will likely say yes when she asks to go out with a friend. She also knows the situations where she might get a no, even though she asks anyway.
We have always had our silly moments, but now I find we get silly more often, and we even delve into smarta$$ territory. A few days ago, she really wanted ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. On a normal day, she would have gotten in her car and gone on her own. On this particular day, her car was at the dealer for some repairs, and she doesn’t like driving my Explorer because she’s…petite (aka short 🤣).
As we watched television, she commented that she could really go for some ice cream. No question, no request, so she received no response from me. A few minutes later, she asked if I might be willing, just this once, to try DoorDash again. (The last time our order was ridiculously late when the driver “stopped at home to fix a flat,” and we ended up with melted ice cream and a full refund.) I said no.
A few minutes later, I mentioned that I found it interesting that she tried two ways to pique my interest in getting ice cream except for just outright asking if I wanted to go. It was about 9 at night, so she expected me to say no. I did not, in fact, say no, and off to Cold Stone we went.
A couple of days later, she was hanging out with one of her friends, and they decided to go to the mall. I was working. I didn’t care one way or the other, and she was pretty certain I wouldn’t care. So when she came to “ask,” it was more of “Mother…” (the only time she calls me Mother is when she wants something), “Alicja and I would like to go to the mall, and since you’re more lenient than my father ever was….”
Yes, she said those words, and she wasn’t wrong. I am definitely more lenient than her father ever was, and she is also an adult. Do I want her to let me know where she’s going? Yes. If I’m working and she doesn’t have anywhere else to be or anything else to do, do I care if she goes to the mall with a friend? Absolutely not. I will tell her the same thing I tell her every time she leaves the house. “Love you, see you. Drive safe. Don’t be dumb.”
It’s a good relationship—respectful, balanced, fun…with a whole lot of love. And very realistic if you compare it to an almost 18-year-old character in the book reviewed below who tells her mother, “Touching…It’s a mystery to me why you’re single.” Realistic and smarta$$-y, indeed. 😜
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh
359 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: April 23, 2024
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
They say the camera never lies. But on this show, you can’t trust anything you see.
Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they’ve signed up for.
Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won’t just be eliminated—they’ll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they’d ever imagined, and they’re trapped.
The disappearance of a contestant wasn’t supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she’s watched on screen, and find out who these people really are—knowing she can’t trust any of them.
And when a murderer strikes, Ffion knows every one of her suspects has an alibi…and a secret worth killing for.
************
Main Characters:
- Ffion Morgan – Detective Constable in Wales, recently moved into her own place and adopted a dog from a rescue, feels she messed up romantically with Leo after working with him on a case the previous year
- Georgina Kent – Detective Constable, transferred to Wales three months ago, paired with Ffion for this new case, Ffion considers her a “try hard”
- Leo Brady – Detective Sergeant in Cheshire’s Criminal Investigation Department for the past six months, has a young son who he has recently started having more of a relationship with, tried to maintain a connection with Ffion after the last case but started dating someone when Ffion ghosted him
- Seren Morgan – Ffion’s daughter, raised by Ffion’s mother, they interact more like sisters, dating Caleb for the last year and getting ready to head off to university
- Caleb Northcote – production assistant on the new reality show Exposure
- Huw Ellis – Ffion’s ex-husband, runs a search and rescue team
- Miles Young – owner of Young Productions, responsible for Exposure
- Roxy Wilde – host of Exposure
- Zee Hart – YouTuber who applied to be on Exposure, camped outside the perimeter of the filming area trying to air inside information
- Ryan Francis – software engineer, contestant on Exposure who goes missing
- Jason Shenton – firefighter, contestant on Exposure
- Henry Moore – accountant, contestant on Exposure
- Aliyah Brown – childcare practitioner, contestant on Exposure
- Pam Butler – head teacher of a girls’ private school, contestant on Exposure
- Lucas Taylor – vicar, contestant on Exposure
- Ceri Jones – the postwoman of Cwm Coed, socializes with Ffion, contestant on Exposure
Another Clare Mackintosh book, and another mother of all whodunits! I do not typically gravitate to series, especially if I know that it’s going to be a series when I finish the first book. That said, this is more recurring characters with some crossover relationship plotlines than an actual series, like how a television police procedural deals with different cases each week, but the people who work them stay the same.
In this second book featuring Detective Constable Ffion Morgan, a production company has chosen Pen y Ddraig mountain in Cwm Coed, North Wales, to film a reality show called Exposure. Ffion learns of the production when they find some bones that the police are asked to investigate. Things amp up when one of the contestants goes missing after the producers reveal a twist to the series.
Since the production area crosses over into Cheshire, England, Ffion needs to notify their department of the missing person. This brings in Leo Brady to the story, recently promoted to Detective Sergeant in Cheshire and ghosting victim of Ffion after their joint investigation from The Last Party (I Love Your Accent…No, I Love YOUR Accent!). Let’s just say there’s a little bit of animosity and even more tension to the investigation.
One of the things I love about Mackintosh’s writing is her ability to introduce so many characters as suspects and still not confuse the reader. The chapters rotate points of view, switching mostly between Ffion and Leo, but intertwining contestant POVs as they’re being filmed as well as the POVs of television viewers of the series as it airs. (For example, one chapter relates Episode 1 from Ffion’s mother’s perspective as she watches.) This provides the reader with real information as well as the edited scenes aired on television that add to the suspect pool.
Mackintosh also creates fantastic characters. Georgina makes a great addition to Ffion’s circle, even though Ffion wants nothing to do with her. Leo was an exception to her preference to working alone in the first book, and Ffion’s inability to deal with her feelings about him make for some interesting sexual tension. I’m sure the third book will continue their story, and I’m here for it.
I refuse to give away anything else. If you are a fan of police procedurals, suspense, you’ll want to read Clare Mackintosh. She kept me guessing—again—and I’m sure I’ll be guessing when the third book in the series comes out…next year. 😭 March 2025 seems altogether too far away, but I am looking forward to trying to figure out the next situation that brings Ffion and Leo together. Clare Mackintosh is a must-read.
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