The Fifth Letter

December 12, 2016
Joni Camilleri, Deb Camden, Trina Chan, and Eden Chester are all Scorpios and have all been friends since high school in 1990s Australia. They’ve shared secrets and crushes, moves and heartaches. Now, in 2016, even though they’re in their 30s and married, and all (but one) are mothers, they still somewhat reluctantly get together for an annual girls’ getaway. This year Joni suggests they each write an anonymous letter telling the group a secret. As they read the letters, they learn that one of them is contemplating divorce, one hates being a parent, one confesses to having placed a baby for adoption, and one admits to lying to her friends. But as all the letters are shared, it turns out there are five, and whomever wrote the last letter hates one of the others. The meandering stories of these women are held together with the powerful question of who wrote the last letter, which reveals just how precarious childhood friendships are. The interspersed first-person confessions between Joni and her priest don’t add much, but the majority of the book, told in alternating chapters of current scenes and flashbacks to 1993, adeptly exposes the striking differences among the four friends and the five letters.

November 15, 2016
There are unexpected consequences after four 30-ish women share a weekend of drinking and revealing--or not revealing--secrets in this debut Australian novel.Joni, Deb, Trina, and Eden first bonded as Scorpios with surnames ending in C while they were high school freshmen in 1993. Joni, who brought them together, has always been the rule follower, Deb the pretty, popular one, Trina, of Chinese descent and raised by a single mother, the tough athletic one, and Eden the shy, easily led one. By 2016, when the four gather at a rented beach house for the vacation weekend they have shared annually since they were 21, each has married and begun a career of one sort or another. Joni, feeling less connected because she's the only one who's childless, comes up with an idea to "restore their friendship," suggesting that each woman write down a secret on the beach house computer and print it out to share anonymously with the others. Shortly after Eden's letter is read, Joni comes across a half-burned fifth letter that reveals that one of her friends secretly hates someone else in the group and sometimes has violent feelings toward that person. Joni is shocked. Her attempts to figure out who is telling which secrets are often misguided, influenced by her resentments toward the other women and her insecurities about her marriage. In fact the most serious secrets may not even be revealed in the letters. While her friends have moments that hint at psychological complexity, central character Joni remains annoyingly whiny and judgmental. More seriously, the sense of mystery and intrigue the novel is attempting to develop remains lukewarm. Too often the truths revealed are anticlimactic compared to the buildup, and the italicized interludes spread throughout the novel, in which Joni "confesses" to a remarkably progressive priest, add little except a too-cute romantic twist. Shallow characters and an obviously manipulated plot defeat the usually winning trifecta of friendship, marriage, and motherhood.

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December 1, 2016
Meet Joni, Deb, Trina, and Eden. Best friends since secondary school, they know all of one another's secrets. Or do they? In an effort to reconnect, Joni suggests a game of confession, each of the four woman revealing her deepest secret in an anonymous letter to the others. Instead of building closeness, the letters incite hurt and confusion. The game takes a dark turn when Joni finds a fifth letter, discarded in the fireplace, admitting a long-hidden obsession by one of them that may put them all in danger. But which of them wrote it and still hides the most explosive secret of all? Those prone to whiplash may be distracted by interruptions from the unknown author of the fifth letter and Joni's confession to a priest. Yet the premise and its execution will grab readers and refuse to let go. Readers may pick this one up to see how Moriarty's writing compares to her sister Liane's wildly popular novels, but they'll race to the end as a credit to Nicola's fine sense of pacing and suspense. An author to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2016

In her U.S. debut, Australian novelist Moriarty (Paper Chains) explores women's friendships and the strain of secrets on them. Friends since high school, Joni, Deb, Eden, and Trina try to get together every year for a girls-only vacation. Family and other obligations have made that harder to do, and their once close relationships have started to fray. This year Joni plans the perfect vacation that she hopes will draw them closer again. But after a midnight dare, each woman writes an anonymous letter to the group, revealing her deepest secrets. As each letter is read, shock waves travel through the group. Even worse is the fifth letter Joni finds--one clearly meant to be destroyed--which unveils frightening levels of anger and hatred. How can one of these women she's loved for years hate another so vehemently, to the point of wishing her dead? VERDICT While a bit uneven in plotting and characterization, the novel's puzzle of the fifth letter will keep readers turning the pages. Though the author has been published in Australia, the recent breakout of her sister Liane's books in the United States will stir interest. [See Prepub Alert, 8/1/16.]--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016

Vacationing with best friends Deb, Eden, and Trina, Joni decides to stir things up by suggesting that each write an anonymous letter sharing a dark secret. Later she finds a rancorous missive half-burnt in the fireplace indicating that one woman harbors real animosity toward the others. Like Messineo's The Fire by Night, previewed above, a great-expectations debut with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.