Random Road: Introducing Geneva Chase

The bad choices made by Geneva “Genie” Chase, the narrator of Kies’s arresting debut, have landed her back in her hometown of Sheffield, Conn., working for the local paper. When a multiple murder—the six victims were all members of a sex club, and the murder site was their clubhouse—is discovered in a Long Island Sound mansion, Geneva is the only reporter on the scene. This, Genie realizes, is the story that could revive her career if she can get past her two major stumbling blocks: vodka tonics and bad taste in men. Her court-ordered attendance at an AA meeting reunites Genie with Kevin Bell, a high school friend with his own problems. While trying to figure out what Kevin means to her now, Genie is still entangled with a married lawyer reluctant to end their affair. Meanwhile, hunting for two killers in a wealthy community soon puts Genie at odds with the police and people with secrets to hide. While the sheer number of troubled characters and events taking place in a short time span weighs down the plot, Kies has created a likable if flawed heroine readers will want to see more of. (May)