A Touch of Southern Grace : The Darlings

Thursday, December 11, 2014

The Darlings

The Darlings, by Cristina Alger, is one of the best books if not the best book I have read in 2014, no exaggeration. The Darlings is Alger’s debut novel and she hit it out of the park. When I first saw the book’s cover and read the brief description I thought the story line was going to be something totally different than what it is; once I was a couple chapters and the story line started to take shape I was very pleasantly surprised.

Paul Ross, a man from humble beginnings in North Carolina worked for his success, marries Merrill Darling who is from a well to-do prominent New York family. Paul, an attorney, finds himself out of work during the finical crisis of 2008. Upon hearing the news that the company Paul worked for went under Cater Darling, Paul’s father-in-law, who just happens to own his own hedge fund company offers Paul the position of General Counsel. After much deliberation and weighing his options Paul accepts his father-in-law’s business offer.

After Paul has been working at Carter Darling’s hedge fund company for a couple months a tragic event happens, unearthing a scheme that has been going on for years. The Darling family is thrown into the middle of a major financial investigation. Paul is faced with the decision of where his loyalties lie and in turn his wife, Merrill, is faced with choosing if her loyalties lie with her family or her husband.

As Alger takes the reader on a six week journey into the Darling’s life and everything that entails: socialite parties, lavish dinners, a family holiday in the Hamptons, and flawed characters that are described in such a realistic way that you can’t help but feel sympathy for them when things start to take a turn for the worst.

I bought this book thinking it would be a light read, but I was pleasantly wrong. The twist and turns, and the flat out suspense of what the outcome is going to be makes this book one that is hard to put down. I honestly recommend The Darlings to anyone and think it a must read.