South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Stranger things in frightening ‘Reckless Girls’ and ‘Mouth to Mouth’
Vacations can be fun — naturally — but also fraught with fights, hurt feelings and betrayal. Just watch any of the dreadful trips on the “Real Housewives” series. Rachel Hawkins adds all those situations generated by the “Housewives,” but ramps up “Reckless Girls” with solid suspense and a palpable sense of danger.
After losing her low-paying job as a housekeeper at a Maui resort, Lux McAllister agrees to accompany her very handsome boyfriend, Nico Johannsen, as he takes two strangers, Amma and Brittany, to the remote, uninhabited Meroe Island in the Pacific. The two women, who became best friends in college, have given Nico enough money to make his dilapidated boat seaworthy. The two women want an adventure, which they believe they will find on Meroe, named in 1821 after the first of many ships that ran aground. Rumors of cannibalism were rampant when the various “whittled down” crews were rescued.
Aside from a frightening storm, the sailing is fairly smooth. But the foursome is surprised to find a luxury, 40-foot catamaran helmed by the wealthy Jake and Eliza already at the island. After initial hesitation, the six get along fine, talking, swimming and discovering the island’s dense jungle. Jake and Eliza are happy to share their supplies — better food and wine, no more Spam and canned soup.
But then, a creepy guy also anchors his boat, and
they find a skull that can’t be a leftover from when the island was a fueling station during WWII.
Hawkins cleverly doles out the clues to each character’s personality and motive for being on this trip, and how each has a hidden agenda. The dynamic between Lux and Nicco especially fuels “Reckless Girls.” Lux dropped out of college to spend the past several years caring for her mother who was dying of cancer. She is near broke, barely getting by with unskilled jobs. Nico, however, plays at being poor, refusing to ask his wealthy family for money. Yet, he retains his sense of entitlement and lacks awareness of others, especially Lux’s situation.
Meroe Island is as much a character as the people in “Reckless Girls.” Its beauty makes it seem like paradise, yet it lacks fresh water, its native fish are poisonous to eat and it is loaded with traps. This perverted idea of paradise worms its way in to each person’s psyche as this space soon becomes claustrophobic. “Place like this, it does things to people,” says one character. “Reveals who you really are.”
Hawkins, who has written a string of young adult novels, made her first foray into adult fiction with last year’s best-seller “The Wife Upstairs.” “Reckless Girls” again proves her talent for frightening adult novels.
Identity theft?
It’s probably not uncommon to end up confiding to a stranger when spending hours together at an airport or another public place. Antoine Wilson uses that scenario for the tightly coiled “Mouth to Mouth,” which spins on a man’s tall tale that may not be true.
More a novella that could indeed be read while waiting for a delayed airplane, “Mouth to Mouth” is akin to the talky, but fascinating, movie “My Dinner With Andre” — if that conversation took place in an airport lounge instead of a fancy restaurant. Elements of “Strangers on a Train” also weave through “Mouth to Mouth.”
The unnamed novelist narrator thinks he recognizes a college acquaintance he hasn’t seen in more than 20 years while waiting for his Los Angeles to Berlin flight that has been delayed for hours. The two were not close but the other man — Jeff Cook — also recognizes the narrator from their university days and invites him to the first-class lounge. There, Jeff begins a story he says he has never told anyone. “I’ve been feeling a pressure to share my story with another soul for a while now,” Jeff says.
Not long after graduating college, Jeff rescued a stranger from drowning, resuscitating him until the paramedics arrived. But the good deed wasn’t enough for Jeff, who wanted to know more about the man he saved, especially whether he was worthy of being rescued.
He tracks down the man — Francis Arsenault, a successful art dealer — and begins to follow him before actually getting a job at his Los Angeles gallery. Jeff is conflicted about whether he should have dived into the ocean that day as Francis is a manipulative bully, dabbling in fraud and theft. Though the art dealer only saw Jeff for a few seconds before losing consciousness and Jeff long ago shed the long hair and hippie clothes he wore that day, he is consumed that Francis doesn’t recognize him.
“Mouth to Mouth” is a story about identity as Wilson shows how Jeff takes on parts of Francis’ persona.
Yet the unnamed narrator’s identity remains elusive, even to himself — he’s paying his own expenses to Germany where he has been called “a cult writer,” hoping to cash in on fame that has eluded him in Los Angeles.
“Mouth to Mouth” delivers a tidy story that also will make readers wonder how much of Jeff ’s story is true and how much is just a good yarn.