Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 1/9/2019 + 1223 more book reviews

I was totally drawn into this novel about a young women, Laurel, who was nearly raped while out bicycling. Then seven years later she is working at a homeless shelter as a social worker. An older schizophrenic man is taken into the shelter who has a trove of photographs that he had been safeguarding against everything. When he dies, Laurel is tasked with going through the photos and printing out the negatives that were also included so the shelter can possibly raise money by doing a showing of the photos. It turned out that these were of excellent quality and included photos of many celebrities including Eisenhower, Julie Andrews, Chuck Berry, Flip Wilson, and others. Laurel discovers that the man may have been a photographer for Life magazine back in the 50s and 60s. She goes on to pursue the man's identity and why also included in the photos was one of her shortly before the attack on her seven years previously. Also among the photos are some of Laurel's childhood home on Long Island where Jay Gatsby and Daisy lived during the twenties. And why does an older woman who is Daisy's daughter want these photos? What secrets do they hold?

This was a very compelling tale with a very unsettling twist at the end that really took me off guard. The novel also somewhat expands the story of The Great Gatsby which I read not too long ago so the references were relatively clear to me. I would recommend reading Gatsby before this one though. The book also includes several photographs that according to the author had been taken by a once homeless man named Soupy Campbell. These photos became the basis for this novel.

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