Still Summer

From the author of The Deep End of the Ocean, Still Summer examines what happens to the bonds of friendship between four old high school buddies when they take a summer cruise together in the Caribbean (actually, only three do, one gets stuck home taking care of her wimpy husband so one brings along her stunning, adopted 19 year-old daughter) that goes horribly awry.

I'm critical of several parts of Mitchard's story. I like the idea of examining what everyday people might do and become under extreme stress and circumstance, but I didn't enjoy these characters enough to love or hate them or even root for them. The foreshadowing she uses is too obvious so that when everything falls apart and the characters react, there are no surprises.

While the overall story is engaging and interesting, there were too many gaps in the plot, the "big reveals" were too predictable and the characters too boxed into their allowed behavior. It's too bad because this could have been a better book.