cover image A Perfect Wife and Mother: 2a Novel

A Perfect Wife and Mother: 2a Novel

Alexandra Frye. Viking Books, $21 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-670-84792-1

The fact that Alexandra Frye is a pseudonym for a suburban New Yorker adds another level of intrigue to this wonderfully suspenseful tale. When pregnant Georgia Coffey, an affluent homemaker, finally discovers the perfect babysitter for her son Justin, she is exuberant. At first, beautiful and intelligent Harriet Major surpasses even Georgia's spoiled expectations: Justin falls in love with her almost immediately; his mother finds in Harriet the confidante and helpmate for whom she's been searching all her life. Tucked in the elegant, cozy hills of St. George, N.J., Georgia's home epitomizes the American dream of affluent perfection. Her husband, Lawrence Elgin Coffey, known as the Big Bear on Wall Street, prospers in his career, loves his family and indulges Georgia's every desire, from psychiatrists to expensive haircuts and highly paid babysitters. So why does Georgia feel so insistently queasy, so interminably anxious? Something is amiss in fairy-tale land, of course, and when Justin disappears with Harriet, a thrilling story of profound deception, treachery, old Wall Street money and familial love unfolds. Layers of plot build a compelling, at times chilling, novel filled with convincing dialogue and vivid characters. Aside from an overuse of some descriptive words (``metallic'' is repeatedly employed to characterize a smell), the prose is brisk, fluid and entrancing. While this tightly spun read may have all the nutritive value of cotton candy, it also has its pleasing flavor. Frye's smart writing and commercial savvy suggest an auspicious future for this book and its author. (May)