Saturday, June 26, 2021

The Newcomer (Mary Kay Andrews)

Like many others, I tend to gravitate toward beach reads in the summer. This year, I decided to pick up Mary Kay Andrews's latest The Newcomer, as I had never read her before. I have seen reviews that this is unlike her other books, so maybe it wasn't the best book to start with to get the full "Mary Kay Andrews" experience. To me, this was a mix of good and just ok.

After she finds her sister, Tanya, dead, Letty Carnahan flees with her sister's daughter to Florida. Tanya had told Letty that "If anything bad happens to me -- it's Evan." Evan is Tanya's ex. In Florida, Letty tries to blend in at the Murmuring Surf, a motel with an unforgettable cast of characters, and it wouldn't be a beach read if there wasn't a romance with the local police detective. But of course, Evan wants nothing more than to track down Letty and his daughter.

I loved most of the characters in The Newcomer, especially the old curmudgeons at the motel. Andrews really does a nice job of making them all unique. I found the mystery tiresome though and the romance not believable. Plus, the book was just too long. I'm not saying that I wouldn't read another Mary Kay Andrews book, just that I wish I hadn't started with this one to get to know her as an author.

MY RATING - 3