Review: 'With Regrets' by Lee Kelly
Pub. Date: 09/5/2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Seven courses, seven guests, twenty-four hours that will obliterate everything.
When recent NYC-transplant Liz Brinkley and her husband are invited to an exclusive soiree by their neighbor, “lifestyle guru” Britta Harris-Che, Liz’s immediate thought is hell no. Britta is insufferable, and Liz is wary to leave her young children with a barely-teenage babysitter. And yet she RSVPs anyway, trying to extend an olive branch to her withdrawing husband, who seems desperate to get in with the cliquey elite.
They’ve barely made it through their first round of champagne when a “red alert” comes through their phones, and every channel on the television tells the same story: strange atmospheric masses, reported to look like “glimmering clouds,” have been spreading through major U.S. cities and killing anyone they touch. Authorities have just one clear directive: Find shelter. Immediately.
A collective panic seizes the dinner party; all the guests have children at home. In the mad dash to their cars, they see it: a shimmering net floating over the town. The street is littered with wrecked cars and dead bodies. Leaving now is not an option. Instead, the group launches into survival mode, grabbing supplies to take shelter in the hosts’ wine cellar. But everyone has very different opinions about the best plan from there.
Liz becomes increasingly willing to do anything it takes to get back to her children. As the glimmering clouds continue to kill anyone who steps outside, the tensions and suspicions among the party guests near a boiling point. But she begins to realize that there may be others in that cellar even more desperate than she is.
With Regrets presents a situation that is horrifying, because we have all already kind of experienced it and can imagine how much worse it could get. COVID-19 hit everyone in a different way, yet we all experienced being locked down with others or on our lonesome. Being alone had its own horrors, but being locked down with others revealed all kinds of things we never suspected before. I loved my housemates, but being with each other 24/7 was a whole new challenge. Fortunately, none of us had quite as much to hide as the characters in With Regrets and we also didn't feel the need to compete with each other in the way they do. But because the situation feels sort of familiar, it brought out a new appreciation for the urgency and the drama with which the book is infused. And add to that the Sci-Fi element of the "Glimmer", which remains just vague enough to be threatening. But just like COVID, what it really does, is bring out the worst in all of us. Whether it is conspiracy thinking or grabs for power, the "Glimmer" proves to be a fascinating challenge for a suspense novel.
The worst possible thing has happened: Tom has accepted a dinner invite to the Harris-Che's and now Liz is forced to socialise with the people of the 'burbs. But actually it is going to get worse, because weird news is coming from the UK, which has gone into complete contact lockdown. As everyone struggles through the first wine, however, a message comes through. The airport where Liz' sister is meant to land has been locked down and a weird "glimmer" is in the sky which may or may not be an attack, or aliens, or something weird. As they try to race home to their children, it becomes clear leaving is not an option and so the guests become forced lockdown mates down in the cellar of the Harris-Che's, where inevitable tensions come to the surface. Aside from Liz, we also get the perspective of some of the other women, including out lifestyle guru, who is the worst for much of the novel, a new mom who isn't sure motherhood is actually for her, and a mother and wife hiding plenty of secrets. (Yes, I'm keeping it vague on purpose!) The novel is told through the perspectives of these four women and as the world unravels, so do they! Will they kill each other, or will the "Glimmer" get them first?
While I haven't read anything by Lee Kelly before, I loved the slightly snarky tone of her writing straightaway and it is very clear that Liz is something of a stand-in for us as the reader. She does not like the façade-obsessed suburbs and she can't believe her husband is buying into it. Meanwhile the other women all have their own assumptions about the others, based on how they carry themselves. The characters aren't very likeable, especially at the beginning. Even Liz can be a little grating, but once the tension of the "Glimmer" ramps up, it becomes more understandable why they're so amped up. But as we get all of their perspectives, their motivations and characters also become more clearer. The last third or so of With Regrets is like a rollercoaster ride as the tension rises and I was on the edge of my seat to see how things work out, or don't. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more books by Lee Kelly.
I give this novel...
4 Universes!
With Regrets is a great suspense novel with a Sci-Fi twist which kept me hooked throughout. The characters have just the right blend between annoying and understandable that you'll be curious to find out more about them.
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