The Underneath

A complex, layered, and exceedingly well-written novel with lots of facets including the opiod crisis and how it's effecting rural New England, women's role in marriage vs. the man's, atmospheric gritty creepy dread as Kay, the mother and a former overseas journalist, delves into a mystery of the house she's rented for the summer and, in doing so, puts herself in peril. Very honest and real depiction of a mother and her love/hate feelings toward her children, her absent husband, as she slowly goes a little mad in the evocative rural Vermont setting. The ending was not what I expected, but it made sense and lent a grace note to a terrific novel. Parts of this make for difficult reading as Finn deals with child neglect, drug use, and murder, but ultimately, she has written a gem.