FICTION

The Red Car

by Marcy Dermansky
Liveright: Norton. Oct. 2016. 224p. ISBN 9781631492334. $24.95; ebk. ISBN 9781631492341. F
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When Leah Caplan, an aspiring novelist, learns that Judy, her mentor and former boss, has died in an automobile accident, she boards a plane to California to attend the funeral. Upon arrival, Leah discovers that she has inherited her friend's red car—the car in which she died. As she reluctantly takes possession of the vehicle, Leah constantly hears Judy's voice in her head, advising her on to what to do next. The car terrifies her, seeming to have a life of its own, refusing to slow down on highways, and even appearing to repair itself after the accident. When Leah finds her old journal, hidden in the car she begins to reexamine the life she had left behind in California and its meaning to her in the present.
VERDICT Dermansky, whose previous novels Twins and Bad Marie focused on young women who make poor choices in the course of maturing, has done it again. Her latest explores the many unwise decisions of her heroine, offering no solutions but encouraging us to hope that things will get better. Readers won't be able to put this one down. [See Prepub Alert, 7/18/16; an ALA Buzz Book.]
Reviewed by Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS , Sep 01, 2016
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