The most compelling part of this novel is the creative process and how identity affects what’s produced. I would’ve enjoyed more of the book spent on research development and brainstorming sessions. I think that the authors inclusion of some of this was highly successful and added a bit of levity to a melancholy read. 

What keeps this book from five star territory for me is the character development and pacing. This book takes more than 30% of its time to get to the problem that really kickstart the plot. Before that we get a lot of character development for what is a fairly shallow character, she wasn’t given enough depth or plot points that affected her personality deserving of that much time before our main plot started.

 And in a story this grounded there was so much about her That was unbelievable. She making the mistakes of a much younger woman. She had far too much life experience to ignore calendar or betrayal, lifelong friend or lie in a way that she would certainly be found out. I felt the same way about her husband. They were perplexing.