Starred review from March 20, 2023
Horse mothers put stage mothers to shame in this wildly entertaining thriller from Brazier (Good Rich People). Texas transplants Heather and Jim Parker buy a $28 million house in Southern California, and arrive at the nearby Rancho Santa Fe Equestrian Center at the top of the heap. Heather will do anything to help her young teen daughter Maple win the annual horse show, including engaging in full equine combat with top “barn mom” Pamela and her vicious daughter, Vida. Meanwhile, rumors swirl around Kieran Flynn, the equestrian center’s charming owner and head trainer, and his “implausibly handsome” intern. Suspicious accidents pile up gradually—a horse spooked by spilled soda, a cut stirrup—until somebody winds up dead. Brazier cleverly heightens suspense by declining to reveal the victim’s identity until late in the novel, stacking motives and suspects before she finally hits readers with the gruesome murder. Her characterization impresses, too: the horses emerge as distinctive personalities in their own right as the author nimbly juggles the humans’ scandalous backstories. This is a sparkling addition to Brazier’s impressive career. Agent: Sarah Bedingfield, Levine Greenberg Rostan.
April 1, 2023
From the author of Good Rich People, this novel looks at wealthy helicopter moms who impose their teenage desires on their daughters. In a wealthy enclave in Southern California, mom Heather is determined to give her teen daughters the life she never had. She signs them up at an equestrian center and immerses herself in the world of "barn moms," intent on making Maple and Piper love horses. But do they? The pressure mounts as the end-of-summer shows approach. The barn moms will stop at nothing to make sure their daughters win, and the girls are equally eager to beat their friends. Cliques will turn mean, accidents will happen, and someone will end up dead. VERDICT This recommended, well-written suspense poses questions about the cost of parents living vicariously through their children.--Susan Clifford Braun
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2023
Brazier takes readers deep inside the rarified and competitive world of "horse girls" in this tale of jealousy and deadly secrets. This irresistible novel opens with police asking questions about "an unimaginable tragedy" but quickly spins backward in time, exploring the months leading up to the suspicious death of one of its major characters, whose identity remains a mystery throughout most of the book. Brazier's juicy narrative gives credence to a detective's comment that "there were no people quite like horse people," as she perfectly describes the back-stabbing day-to-day life at an equestrian school in California. The school is run by the megalomaniac trainer Kieran Flynn, an imperious man who makes or breaks horses as well as their riders. Young girls are his beleaguered students, but their overinvolved mothers are holding the reins, and Brazier expertly captures their arrested development, broken relationships, and neediness. Heather, rich and oh-so-sad, wants her teenage daughters to fulfill her lost dream of being a champion show jumper. Daughter Piper, a natural equestrian, won't ride because of the overbearing Heather's interference. Her timid sister, Maple, is afraid of horses but is pressured by Heather into riding. Ex-addict Pamela is broke but wants her daughter, the chaos-loving Vida, to have the same opportunities as Heather's girls and will do anything to make that happen. This tale of the horsey set unpacks enough mean-girl drama and emotion to fill a horse barn. Equipment tampering, underage drinking, and animal doping will keep readers turning the pages, and long-kept secrets, unplanned pregnancies, and power-hungry manipulators add to the novel's can't-look-away storyline. Laughing at rich-people problems is a popular theme, but Brazier makes us feel for her characters, rich and poor, and delivers a blue-ribbon story of the haves and have-nots. Horses and young riders are center stage, but dysfunctional adults steal the show in this moody mystery.
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