The Blue Book: A Novel
Beth boards a cruise ship with her boyfriend, Derek, and is almost immediately interrupted by a stranger showing her a magic trick. But is he really a stranger? Who’s tricking whom? And who is really carrying the mysterious, titular blue book? Enigmatic and sensual, Kennedy’s latest novel is full of outright lies and various forms of deception and misdirection. Kennedy deftly weaves an intricate tale, cleverly leading the reader’s attention back and forth in the past and present until the end, when she reveals a kernel of truth: a secret of heartbreaking loss linking Beth and the stranger, Arthur, a psychic medium who specializes in communicating with strangers’ departed loved ones. In stream-of-consciousness passages, Kennedy’s characters reveal their deepest, most intimate thoughts and feelings, which are in sharp contrast to the halting, inarticulate conversations that happen outside their internal monologues. At its heart, this bracing novel is an exploration of the secret feelings we keep from each other and ourselves, the havoc that dishonesty can wreak on a life, and the sometimes futile way we grasp at redemption. --Sarah Hunter