Sandcastles

By Luanne Rice

Honor's marriage was in trouble but it seems only she knew it. She kept her unhappiness to herself but it affected her work. A talented painter, her spark was now gone and she blamed her husband, John.
When they first fell in love, John was everything she thought she wanted. He too was a talented artist who constructed ephemeral sculptures built from rocks, sticks and things he found in the environment. He was quite successful and traveled to locations around the world to create his sculptures.
But then the babies arrived and as her family grew, Honor found herself turning away from her husband, yearning for a more settled lifestyle.
Honor and their daughters accompanied John on one of his sculpture trips, this time to Ireland. John built a large sculpture located on a cliff. But a local man began vandalizing John's work and John threatened to kill him in front of witness. Then one rainy night, John confronted the vandal on the cliff top and the man was killed. John's oldest daughter Regis was there too and saw everything. John ended up in prison when he pleaded guilty, sentenced to six years.
So the six years go by and John is out of prison and wanting to reconnect with his wife and children. He turns up in their home town and his three daughters are thrilled to have him back in their lives. But his wife is not thrilled. She is still angry about what she sees as his failings and about what happened in Ireland.
Having their father locked up for six years has traumatized his three daughters. The worst off is Regis, who can't remember what happened that fatal night. The girls are also anxious for their parents to get back together, but Honor is not ready to accept John back into their lives. She is very distant and remains so until her daughters' crises forces John and Honor to confront their differences.

I didn't like Honor and her three daughters. The daughters are all loons and Honor is pissed at John for being himself, the same person he was when she fell in love with him.  I also didn't much care for the emotionalism of the characters and the needless drama they create. Also, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out pretty quickly that (spoiler alert) Regis was the one who caused that man's death and that her father took responsibility for it to protect her. I  guessed it by the end of Chapter 3. So no big shocking reveal for the reader who knows way before she and her brainless family does that she is the killer.
I found this story boring. It didn't appeal to me. It wasn't suspenseful, the mystery is not mysterious and the whole lot of them come off as either stupid or unstable. I was glad when it came to its predictable conclusion.

For another review, see http://www.curledup.com/lrsandca.htm.