Review of "The Anniversary: A Thriller" by Alex Finlay

 

In some ways, this novel reminds me of the 1978 romantic comedy 'Same Time Next Year', in which a man and woman meet every year on the same date, and we observe changes in them and their relationship as the years go by.

'The Anniversary' isn't a comedy. In this story, we catch up with Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley every year on May 1st, to see how tragic occurrences when they're teenagers affect their lives going forward.

*****

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley are high school seniors in a Nebraska town. They're friendly in study hall, but belong to different social circles.



Jules is the school beauty; has well-off parents; and dates a football player.







Quinn works at a hamburger stand; lives with his widowed mother Nadine; and helps take care of his mentally challenged brother George.





May 1st is a disquieting date because of what newscasters call the May Day Killer. The perpetrator seems to strike every year on May 1st. So far, five girls from all around Nebraska were abducted on this date. Three of the victims were found dead in roadside ditches, and two actually survived.



May 1st also happens to be Quinn's birthday. Unfortunately, May 1, 1992 is a memorable birthday in a bad way. Quinn gets into a fistfight with a bully, and the ruffian hits his head and is badly injured. Quinn is arrested and sent to juvie, and while Quinn is locked up, his mother Nadine is murdered and his brother George is sent to a care facility.



May 1, 1992 is dreadful for Jules as well. After arguing with her boyfriend Brad at a grunge concert, Jules leaves alone. She's abducted and raped by the May Day Killer, who tells her 'You're one of the lucky ones' and lets her go. But first, the perpetrator takes Jules' driver's license and warns her 'DON'T TELL ANYONE OR ELSE!' Jules keeps quiet but she's fearful, and becomes increasingly depressed, and anxious.



From here, we visit with Quinn and Jules each subsequent year on May 1st. I'll give some examples.

❖❖ May 1, 1993.

Quinn is released from juvie and joins the army. Before leaving for basic training, Quinn visits his brother in the care facility, and spends a night in his old home. There Quinn finds the hammer that killed his mother, which leads to the arrest of mom's boyfriend Randy.



Jules is a high school graduate who's given up her college ambitions. Jules still hangs out with her old high school crowd, is haunted by the rape, drinks too much, and is horrified when she hears the killer struck again. Feeling guilty about not reporting her assault, Jules sends an anonymous letter to the FBI.



❖❖ May 1, 1994

Quinn was injured in Somalia and is out of the army. He's in Italy, bringing a letter to the family of his dead comrade Giuseppe. Quinn meets Giuseppe's sister, and they have a brief romance.



Jules is in Italy working as a fashion model, and she's come to realize the job is lucrative, but not glamorous. Jules lives in a tiny apartment with other models; deals with wolfish men and lecherous photographers; and drinks too much and uses cocaine. Jules meets a British model named Paul, and they have a casual on-off romance.



An FBI agent named Jack Smith phones Jules in Italy, and says they traced the anonymous letter to her. This leads to Jules helping the FBI.



❖❖ May 1, 1995

Quinn testifies at Randy's trial, and Randy is convicted of killing Quinn's mother Nadine. Afterwards, Quinn learns that - shortly before Nadine's murder - she was worried about something at work, and planned to tell the police. Quinn then decides Randy is innocent and sets out to uncover the real perpetrator.



Jules is back in Nebraska, and she and the other survivors of the May Day Murderer, Carrie and Lucy, have periodic meetings with FBI Agent Jack Smith. All the girls are troubled and acting out in some way.



❖❖ From here we go on to May 1, 1996, May 1, 1997 (and so on), all the way to May 1, 2011.

I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll just say Quinn eventually takes a job with a private investigator agency, and - in addition to doing his regular private detective job - pursues his mother's killer.



Sadly, Quinn experiences further tragedy in her life, and eventually establishes a nonprofit called 'Find Them', that focuses on missing girls and women.



Over the years, Quinn and Jules meet from time to time, and eventually become close friends as they mature.



By the end of the book, all is revealed, and in my view, some parts of the finale are not believable. That said, the story is compelling, and shines a light on the REAL LIFE issue of women going missing.

Recommended to mystery fans.

I had a digital copy of the book as well as the audiobook, narrated by Ari Fliakos and Brittany Pressley, who do a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Alex Finlay, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for copies of the novel.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "She Got Up Off the Couch and Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana" by Haven Kimmel

This memoir is the sequel to 'A Girl Named Zippy'. In that first set of stories, Haven Kimmel - who was nicknamed Zippy by her dad - writes about her wonderful childhood in Mooreland, Indiana.

Haven was born in 1965, when her brother Dan was 13 and her sister Melinda was 10, so Zippy really was the baby of the family.


Baby Haven

In the mid-20th century, Mooreland had a population of 300 and contained one main street and one four-way stop sign. Like many insular communities, Mooreland had no multiculturalism; no open homosexuals; no people of color; and women were expected to be homemakers.



'A Girl Named Zippy' reflects the author's very early years, when she viewed the world with rose-colored glasses, and life seemed as good as it could possibly be. In this sequel, Haven is more clear-eyed, though she's still funny, cheerful, and happy.

The book's title - 'She Got Up Off the Couch' - refers to Haven's mother Delonda. Delonda grew up in a middle-class family and planned to go to college. Instead, Delonda married Bob Jarvis when she was 17, thinking he was a 26-year-old pilot. Instead Bob was 19, a poor provider, and an autocrat with a bad temper.


Haven's mother Delonda


Young Haven with her father Bob

Delonda was a devout Quaker who took (a less than enthusiastic) Zippy to church three times a week, though Haven's father Bob never went along. In fact Bob was reluctant to set foot in a chapel of any kind, even for his own wedding anniversary party (more about that later).


A Quaker Meeting House

Bob worked for Delco-Remy for some years, but the Jarvis family was impoverished. Bob himself drank, gambled, dressed to the nines, and always had money in his wallet. However the Jarvises lived in a home with no heat; got government subsidized food; and Delonda and Haven wore hand-me-downs.



In an amusing anecdote, Haven mentions her amazement when she visited a home with an entertainment center in the living room. Haven recalls, 'We had an entertainment center too. A small television on an old crate with a hammer nearby - to fix the set when it acted up.'



When we first meet Haven's mother, Delonda is approaching 40, obese, and has a cozy nest on the sofa, with a big box of novels from the Bookmobile and lots of crunchy snacks. Haven asserts that, 'though mother almost never left the couch, she was a woman of many gifts.' Delonda knit, did ceramics, and sewed, all while talking on the phone with her church lady friends.



Delonda is a loving but neglectful mother to Haven, who is usually bathed and fed by the parents of her playmates, or by Delonda's friend Olive. Haven mentions stepping into Olive's home; having her clothes stripped off and laundered; being scrubbed down in the bathtub; then taking care because 'who knows when' her things would be washed again.



In this book, Delonda fulfills a lifelong dream. After being married for more than 20 years and raising a family, Delonda becomes a student at Ball State University.



Haven's stories about Delonda's 'upward trajectory' are hilarious and telling. Delonda doesn't drive, has no money, and is given no support by her husband Bob. Bob won't even drive Delonda to register for - or take - the CLEP test (College Level Examination Program). Delonda isn't deterred though. She aces the CLEP exam and is exempted from two years of college classes.


Abraham Lincoln commercial for the CLEP test

Delonda makes rapid progress after getting accepted to Ball State University. Delonda's hilarious, foul-mouthed neighbor Bonnie teaches her to drive. Then - with part of her school loan - Delonda buys a used VW Beetle that has no working windshield wipers and is barely roadworthy.



When Delonda sees a notice about ads on cars, she has the entire VW Beetle appliquéd with pictures of Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo. This garners Delonda $20 per month - enough for gas, parking, and lunch at college.



Delonda is an excellent student and graduates summa cum laude after two years, having lost over 100 pounds. There's a vignette in which Delonda sails across campus on a borrowed bike that's way too big for her - with handbrakes she doesn't know how to use - yelling "I'm out of control." Students scurry out of the way and a professor dives into the bushes....but Delonda arrives at her destination, albeit with her wig askew and her clothing torn.



Delonda goes on to get a Master's Degree and becomes an English teacher. Haven has lots of stories about accompanying her mother to school and meeting Delonda's interesting friends and acquaintances.


Delonda Jarvis

Haven rightly points out that her mother - and other women of her mom's generation - were at the forefront of the female empowerment movement. During the later 1900s, increasing numbers of women decided they wanted to be more than wives and mothers, and they did something about it.



As might be expected, Bob was put off by Delonda's autonomy, and he behaved badly. Sadly, Haven was hurt by the consequences.

Delonda's personal journey is compelling, but it's a small part of the book. Most of Haven's tales are about herself, her family, her friends, her pets, her shenanigans, and the people of Mooreland. I'll give some examples.

⭐ Haven accidentally inhales a persimmon seed, and has to vacuum it out of her nose before her mother sees.



⭐ Haven loves other people's 'treasures', like her father's jar of animal teeth, her brother's fossils, her sister's chain made of folded gum wrappers, her mother's Chinese puzzle box, and her friend's miniature iron and ironing board.


Chain made of gum wrappers

Haven hates to wear shoes, and goes barefoot as often as she can. When Haven's dad buys her sandals, she tries to ruin them by hosing them down and stepping in mud.



⭐Haven goes to a Quaker sleep-away camp for a week, and Delonda sends Haven off with a woman's skirt and queen-size pantyhose for prayer services - along with safety pins to make them fit. Of course, Haven can't make this work.



⭐Haven's sister Melinda gets married at 17, and Haven - bereft about losing her sister - goes along on the honeymoon. Later, when Melinda gives birth to baby Josh, Haven falls head over heels in love with the tot, and provides constant instructions for his care.



⭐Haven frequently listens to the following songs: The Playmates' 'The Little Nash Rambler Song (Beep Beep)'; Elton John's 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight'; The Osmonds' 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother'; The Associations' 'Along Comes Mary'; Frankie Lane's 'Swamp Girl', and others. This music drives her father nuts.


The Little Nash Rambler Song

⭐Haven gets crushes on bald men, such as Telly Savalas, Yul Brynner, and the man in the 7-Up commercial who puts the lime in the coconut.


Lime in the coconut commercial

⭐ While playing 'Crack The Whip' on roller skates, Haven's arm is badly broken, and she faces a long (though humorous) treatment and recovery.



⭐Bob Jarvis leaves Delco-Remy with his pension and disability payments (wink wink). Bob then becomes a volunteer deputy sheriff, a job that that comes with a car, a gun, and opportunities to rough up wrongdoers. Bob loves it.



⭐Bob puts a false ceiling beneath the 12-foot high ceiling in the living room, and a horde of mice move into the space, invite all their friends, and run back and forth all day.



⭐Melinda throws a WONDERFUL 25th wedding anniversary party for her parents in the Quaker Meeting House. Bob doesn't want to attend and leaves the party soon after it begins, with Melinda following behind begging him to stay.



Note: Though Bob comes off as self-centered and resentful in my examples, he loves Haven (until he doesn't) and Haven returns the affection in spades. She adores her dad.

There are LOTS MORE great stories in the book, and I'd urge interested readers to start with 'A Girl Named Zippy' and then go on to 'She Got Up Off The Couch." Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars