Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense

The current craze surrounding Marie Kondo and her personal organizing empire has opened the floodgates for others looking to piggyback on the momentum surrounding the fad. In Careful What You Wish For, Hallie Epron’s protagonist, Emily Harlow, is a newly minted professional organizer who is continuously pitted against characters and events representing deliberate chaos. Emily’s own husband is a lawyer, and (ironically) an avid “collector” of detritus gathered from yard and estate sales. There is obvious tension between them caused in turn by disagreements about their infertility issues and the growing build-up of clutter inside their home. Emily’s need for order becomes further thwarted when she takes on two new clients with complications and convoluted pasts. Both clients provide the novel with mysteries that become increasingly puzzling and intertwined. In one case, Emily is suspicious that her client’s deceased husband may have a collection of stolen items, and the other embroils Emily in a “Strangers on a Train” type plot. As an amateur detective, Emily often shows a degree of questionable judgement and naivete that may cause the reader to experience exasperation at her obtuseness. Careful What You Wish For also contains many twists and red herrings, but savvy readers will not be duped due to the numerous hints provided and their sheer predictability. Ephron’s newest release is a perfect summer read: light, quickly paced and well-written, but probably not her best nor most memorable work thus far. Thanks to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC of this book in return for an unbiased review.

stupid boring and the main character is so annoying can't blame her husband. I should know by now as a female that female writers these days obit write about flawed women who blame the manfor everything .then when the man does something real stupid the woman is seen as the victim and Winner. shes on my black list to avoid