People Person

July 11, 2022
Carty-Williams’s underwhelming sophomore effort (after Queenie) follows five London siblings and half siblings who were raised by their mothers, and hardly glimpsed their father, Jamaican playboy bus driver Cyril Pennington. As adults, they’ve gone their separate ways, never having cause to interact, much less build meaningful relationships. That is, until protagonist Dimple Pennington, an aspiring social media influencer at 30 who lives with her mother, lands in hot water after a fight with her abusive boyfriend, Kyron, ends with him slipping and falling in their kitchen. Dimple, worried Kyron is dead and she will be accused of murder, calls her oldest sister, Nikisha, for help, and Nikisha arrives on the scene with the other three siblings—a dramatic if implausible development. A wild romp ensues as they try to hide Kyron’s body. As Dimple faces a ticking clock involving a nude photo and blackmail, the plot oscillates between the quest to put the incident with Kyron behind them and the siblings’ developing relationships with one another. As Cyril slips back into their lives, they begin to understand him through his own family history. The juicy premise gives way to conflicts that are solved too easily, and there are too many anticlimactic scenes. There’s potential here, but’s rather frustratingly not realized. Agents: Deborah Schneider and Gelfman Schneider, ICM Partners.

Starred review from December 1, 2022

Carty-Williams's (Queenie) latest features the five Pennington half-siblings, who know of the others, but don't really know one another. Their only memory of being together was a quick trip for ice cream with dad, Cyril, in his gold Jeep. Now adults, they are thrown together when social media influencer wannabe Dimple's abusive boyfriend appears to be dead in her kitchen, and she doesn't know what to do. She calls her oldest sister, Nakisha, who brings everyone together to deal with the situation. The story takes a turn when the body disappears, and the boyfriend turns up with no memory of the night in question. The good turn doesn't last, and trouble ensues. This is a real predicament, but they learn by working together, they can take on just about anything. Narrator Danielle Vitalis does a spectacular job differentiating each character as she takes us into the center of this familial scrum. Listeners will be able to feel the siblings taking stock of and getting to know one another while learning the background of this flawed, yet oddly functional family. VERDICT Part family drama, part thriller, and part farce, this stunning audio is highly recommended for all public libraries.--Christa Van Herreweghe

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