Buy it here:
Synopsis:
Two estranged twin sisters as they hunt down their elusive mother in this razor-sharp crime novel from “master of the dark arts” J. Robert Lennon. (Kelly Link)
Jane Pool likes her safe, suburban existence just fine. She has a house, a family, (an infuriating mother-in-law,) and a quiet-if-unfulfilling administrative job at the local college. Everything is wonderfully, numbingly normal. Yet Jane remains haunted by her her mercurial, absent mother, her parents’ secrets, and the act of violence that transformed her life. When her estranged twin, Lila, makes contact, claiming to know where their mother is and why she left all those years ago, Jane agrees to join her, desperate for answers and the chance to reconnect with the only person who really knew her true self. Yet as the hunt becomes treacherous, and pulls the two women to the earth’s distant corners, they find themselves up against their mother’s subterfuge and the darkness that always stalked their family. Now Jane stands to lose the life she’s made for the one that has been impossible to escape.
Set in both the Pool family’s past and their present, and melding elements of a chase novel, an espionage thriller, and domestic suspense, Hard Girls is an utterly distinctive pastiche—propulsive, mysterious, cracked, intelligent, and unexpected at every turn.
Review:
Hard Girls, the new novel by J. Robert Lennon follows an estranged set of twins, Lila and Jane, while they look for their estranged mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. The twins have not seen each other in years, and Jane is okay with that. She has made a pretty normal life for herself. She works at the university, is a mother to a preteen and a wife to her high school sweetheart. The real problems she faces are her mother-in-law and watching her father. When Lila shows up and says she thinks she has found their mother, not only does Jane travel with Lila across America to find her, but she risks losing her safe life and all of the things she had built to hide her past.
The timeline switches between past and present, and while the story unfold and the family secrets are revealed, there really is a sense that all of the characters are family. Sure there are some quirks that make them different, but all of them have the same major character trait, the one that has led them all to this point in their lives. They share a detached personality, one that is more comfortable hiding information and feelings more than expressing them. The title, Hard Girls, is really perfect, because these women are hard. They are emotionally detached, do not show any vulnerability, and quite honestly are only out for their own gains. It feels like Jane has lived with this too with the way that she interacts with her husband and daughter, but there is also a conscience in her that has grown due to having a child, something that did not happen in her mother or sister. The way that they all interact makes Hard Girls a well-written and compelling story.
J. Robert Lennon writes a variety of literary novels and short stories, and he uses the tagline “A Jane and Lila Pool Thriller” on the title page of this novel. This leads some to speculate that there are going to be more in the series, but I would not be surprised if this is the tagline so that we go into the story thinking about it in a certain way. Hard Girls is going to be a thriller, and it is in a J. Robert Lennon way. The pacing, twists, and reveals lean more toward a literary novel than a thriller novel, and those who want unpredictable danger and harrowing escapes will be disappointed. However Hard Girls is a fast-paced and engaging story. I read most of it in a day-long session without getting bored or needing a break. I have been a fan of Lennon’s work for a long time, and this does not disappoint as a Lennon book as it might disappoint some who are looking for an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ghostvillehero 