Cherise Wolas | THE FAMILY TABOR

Plot (via Goodreads):

Harry Tabor is about to be named Man of the Decade, a distinction that feels like the culmination of a life well lived. Gathering together in Palm Springs for the celebration are his wife, Roma, a distinguished child psychologist, and their children: Phoebe, a high-powered attorney; Camille, a brilliant social anthropologist; and Simon, a big-firm lawyer, who brings his glamorous wife and two young daughters. 

But immediately, cracks begin to appear in this smooth facade: Simon hasn’t been sleeping through the night, Camille can’t decide what to do with her life, and Phoebe is a little too cagey about her new boyfriend. Roma knows her children are hiding things. What she doesn’t know, what none of them know, is that Harry is suddenly haunted by the long-buried secret that drove him, decades ago, to relocate his young family to the California desert. As the ceremony nears, the family members are forced to confront the falsehoods upon which their lives are built. 

Set over the course of a single weekend, and deftly alternating between the five Tabors, this provocative, gorgeously rendered novel reckons with the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and our family and the price we pay for second chances.

Review:

Cherise Wolas is already back at it! When I read the synopsis for THE FAMILY TABOR, I was intrigued with how this novel was listed as a psychological thriller in comparison to JOAN ASHBY, which was literary fiction. Well, similar to JOAN ASHBY, THE FAMILY TABOR took my breath away at the perfect time. 

This novel is proof that Wolas' writing just gets better with time - even if it is only her second novel. While the pacing is slower and the generous details are still there, I felt like the pacing of this one was a bit faster than her previous work. While this novel isn't as lengthy as her first, I did find that I became captivated quite easily. The plot to this one is a bit more mysterious and daunting than JOAN ASHBY. What I mean by this is with the enchanting way that Wolas writes, I was taking lighter footsteps going into this one. It's kind of like that feeling you get when the sun dies a little, the breeze picks up, and an ominous feeling kicks in right before the storm hits. 

Something that Wolas did with this one that I loved was the alternate chapters. While they are still written in the third person, I loved how the chapters differentiated in length depending on what was currently happening in the novel, but you got a great deal as to who these characters were and the secrets they harbored before the family even gets together. I absolutely could not get enough of Phoebe and Simon, they were stunning! The way that Wolas wrote these characters was simply alluring. They are presented to the reader, flaws and all. Some unreliable, some not, many more than others. The Tabor Family is so three-dimensional, it's almost challenging to not finish this book and go searching for this family that you've fallen in love with...and did I ever fall in love. 

The pacing picks up at a rapid speed towards the last half of the novel and I was Alice down the rabbit hole....I couldn't put it down until I finished. With a family that I loved, a plot that was charming and a bit dangerous, and an ending that was so bittersweet, this novel is one you don't want to miss. Part literary fiction, part psychological mystery, and all the feels. Make sure you get this one the moment it comes out. And my last bit of advice, keep Cherise Wolas' name in your head because I guarantee you haven't seen the best of her yet.

Special thanks for Flatiron Books for providing me with this copy in exchange for my honest review. 

Rating: 4.5/5