About the Book
The Opportunist
Author: Elyse Friedman
ISBN: 9780778386957
Paperback Original
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Publisher: MIRA
Book Summary:
A deliciously sly, compulsively readable tale about greed, power and the world’s most devious family.
When Alana Shropshire’s seventy-six-year-old father, Ed, starts dating Kelly, his twenty-eight-year-old nurse, a flurry of messages arrive from Alana’s brothers, urging her to help “protect Dad” from the young interloper. Alana knows that what Teddy and Martin really want to protect is their father’s fortune, and she tells them she couldn’t care less about the May–December romance. Long estranged from her privileged family, Alana, a hardworking single mom, has more important things to worry about.
But when Ed and Kelly’s wedding is announced, Teddy and Martin kick into hyperdrive and persuade Alana to fly to their father’s West Coast island retreat to perform one simple task in their plan to make the gold digger go away. Kelly, however, proves a lot more wily than expected, and Alana becomes entangled in an increasingly dangerous scheme full of secrets and surprises. Just how far will her siblings go to retain control?
My Review
Alana Shropshire is a single mom. Her main concern is providing for her daughter with no help from the child’s father. Although she comes from a wealthy family, she wants nothing to do with any of them, so she’s on her own. Until she receives a call from one of her brothers.
Their father is about to marry a much younger woman, Kelly. Her brothers are sure Kelly only wants his fortune and are determined to stop her from getting it - no matter what it takes. Alana isn’t really interested in any of this but her brothers convince her to help. They arrange for her to visit the family on the island and convince Kelly to go away. This turns out to not be as easy as they thought it would be.
What an addicting and intriguing book! Talk about a dysfunctional family, the Shropshire’s certainly fit that description. Each character is crafted to perfection. Most of the characters were pretty creepy, except for Alana. I was cheering for her. She is a strong character that I cared about.
The author had me hooked from page one. I became totally absorbed trying to figure out the family dynamics. Chapter after chapter is filled with a different twist with a jaw-dropping ending. I love jaw-dropping endings. Needless to say, I couldn’t put this one down. I'm giving this one extra stars since the story never failed to shock me.
I never read anything by this author before, but she’s on my radar now. I’ll be looking for more books by her.
FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Buy Links:
Author Bio
Elyse Friedman is a critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, poet and playwright. Her work has been short-listed for the Trillium Book Award, Toronto Book Award, ReLit Award and Tom Hendry Award. She has also won a Foreword Book of the Year Award, as well as the 2019 TIFF-CBC Films Screenwriter Jury Prize and the 2020 TIFF-CBC Screenwriter Award. Elyse lives in Toronto.
Social Links:
Author Website
Twitter: @elysefriedman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elysefriedman/?hl=en
Goodreads
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