When Sam unexpectedly inherits a charming country cottage next to a nature reserve from his Swedish step-grandmother, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start over. A former professor of anthropology, Sam intends to try his hand at documentary filmmaking while his wife, Merry, plays the devoted homemaker, gardening, decorating, cooking, and caring for their darling infant son Conor in the fairy-tale Swedish countryside. But when Merry’s closest childhood friend Frank, on sabbatical from her high-flying corporate career, comes for an extended summer visit, the idyllic family scene begins to unravel.
At first, Frank seems to revel in joining Merry and Sam’s cozy domesticity, but she soon begins to notice troubling hints that the happy picture may be an illusion. Merry and Frank have a complicated history, with a deep, unspoken rivalry that belies their sisterly closeness. All three main characters come from dysfunctional family backgrounds. All three, also, are keeping secrets from the others. When tragedy strikes, Sam, Merry, and Frank each react in their own idiosyncratic and self-destructive ways as summer fades into fall.
Told vividly in sharp, clear prose, with the distinct first-person voices of each of the three in alternating chapters, You Were Made for This examines the menacing shadows that lurk just beneath the surface of the seemingly ordinary. Almost nothing is what it seems to be in this disturbing psychological exploration of the complex dynamics and shifting boundaries of friendship, family, marriage, and parenthood. The mystery builds slowly at first, then accelerates until its chilling conclusion.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
