A quick read

The House on Maple Street by Heidi Slowinski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a quick read one can enjoy in one sitting. The main characters Evelyn Berke and Hillary Altman were likeable, but neither were rememberable. I wish there were more details on the two characters to make me feel something toward them. Ms. Berke was set up to be very interesting but was treated as a background character though her and Hillary were the only POV for the book.

And Hillary Altman presented as Jewish through some descriptions, but it has no meaning to her character in the story. It’s just thrown in there as a simple detail such as an eye color. Religion should be a bigger factor and consistent one. Jews usually have a kosher diet and customs that were not written as part of her character.

There were a few inconsistencies that made me go back and re read and it stopped the flow but there weren’t many.
I didn’t like Robert since he was introduced and didn’t help her carry her heavy box. And it was shady he stated he has lived there for months but the other residents living there for years never noticed him. There were things like this with his character and other characters which lead me to assume facts discovered at the end of the story. I figured out he was the “bad guy” and that Dottie and Tommy her son were the ones in the car crash described in the Prologue which I didn’t like knowing so early on.
Hillary might not write romance novels with “the muscled-up men and chicks with ripped tops on the cover” but the author has a tendency to write in details/imagery typical of those types of Romance novels. A humorous ploy or a fun coincidence.

I’m still confused what genre this book falls under but I assume it was supposed to be a type of mystery. If so, it succeeded and failed. It succeeded because the ending is unexpected(if I understood it correctly) an interesting surprise that might make you laugh or be disappointed. Either way the author won by providing a cool twist. The author only failed by making the read too disconnected which bored me. A problem easily fixed if she had written a lot more to give readers time to connect with the characters and the “mystery”. By time things connect with the reader things come to a quick end not leaving room for deeper enjoyment.

I can easily see this story being flushed out and turning into a Lifetime channel movie. It has enough good bones to be turned into a screenplay.

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