The intriguing study "It Could Never Happen Here" by Eithne Shortall explores the Irish town of Cooney, where there are no secrets and playground politics rule the lives of the parents at Glass Lake Primary School. The body has been taken from the river, and while we follow the two weeks leading up to the death, we don't know who it is or how they died. This is a dark cloud hanging over the story, with flashforwards to police interviews and the investigation intermingled with the past. Despite how often I correctly predicted the victim and the reason for the crime, I really enjoyed this book since it is pacey, sophisticated, current, and strongly reminiscent of Lianne Moriarty's "Big Little Lies."
Bev Franklin, Amelia's overachieving mother and director of the school musical, Christine, a local journalist, and the Whiteheads, the Cooney family who have recently been involved in a car accident, round out the cast. As the reader carefully dissects the circumstances surrounding the drowning, the interrelationships amongst the cast of morally dubious characters become a tangled web. The story has some dark moments, but these are balanced out with genuinely funny ones, like Bev reprimanding the munchkins who showed up disguised as oompa loompas (justice for the munchkin mayor!).
Overall, this is a disturbingly plausible tale with some unsettling plot lines relating to safety and the effects of the younger generation growing up with easy access to the internet.
Bev Franklin, Amelia's overachieving mother and director of the school musical, Christine, a local journalist, and the Whiteheads, the Cooney family who have recently been involved in a car accident, round out the cast. As the reader carefully dissects the circumstances surrounding the drowning, the interrelationships amongst the cast of morally dubious characters become a tangled web. The story has some dark moments, but these are balanced out with genuinely funny ones, like Bev reprimanding the munchkins who showed up disguised as oompa loompas (justice for the munchkin mayor!).
Overall, this is a disturbingly plausible tale with some unsettling plot lines relating to safety and the effects of the younger generation growing up with easy access to the internet.