Publication Date July 16, 2024
“Things Don’t Break On Their Own” by Sarah Easter Collins is one twisty, well-written, character-driven thriller! There are many characters and various timeframes, so it seemed like actual work for me to keep everyone straight at first. But trust me, this one is worth the effort!
The three main characters are Willa, Cat, and Robyn. Years ago, Robyn and Willa were best friends (and more) but now Robyn is married to Cat. Cat and Robyn have a 5-year old daughter and twin boys, so their life is very full! But they have a dinner party where multiple new characters enter the story.
Willa has had a crazy life since Robyn last saw her…mostly because Willa’s sister Laika disappeared on the way to school, and hasn’t been seen since. For years, Willa has been searching, and on several occasions has seen a woman she is SURE is Laika, and has gone so far as to travel halfway around the world to find out if it is her. Willa brings her fiance Jamie to the party, and he isn’t quite what Robyn expected, and she notes that “In the cluttered space of our Victorian kitchen he looks too large, too tall, like some luxury cruise liner jammed into a narrow Venetian canal…”
Robyn and Cat both invite their brothers: Robyn’s brother Michael brings his girlfriend Liv, a psychologist whose speciality is the study of memories, and Cat’s brother Nate brings his French-speaking girlfriend Claudette. Willa, as always looking to find Laika, is wound up by thinking she is among the guests and also by the discussion of childhood memories, which hits way too close to home…
Multiple points of view can be challenging, but are essential as we learn about Willa from Robyn’s POV, and about Willa’s family dynamics from her own POV, and finally we get Laika’s POV which tells us about what really happened on her way to school over 25 years earlier.
The memories from childhood slowly give clues to some of the family dynamics in Willa and Laika’s home: “…as children, we honestly believed our mother was the clumsiest person on earth. She always told us she couldn’t walk through a doorway without accidentally banging into it. Bruises bloomed like flowers on her arms. Silly me, she’d say, when we pulled up the long sleeves she always wore…” That gave me chills, as it was the kind of passage that makes the reader go “Oh…”
It’s kind of bonkers, but in a good way. Very well written, with excellent character development. As noted above, it is WELL worth the effort to follow the shifts in time and POV. Can’t say more without spoiling it, but it kept me up and interested nearly all night (until I finished, at which point I felt I should go back and read it again with the information I had learned). I haven’t re-read it yet, but it is definitely going with me on vacation. With thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley, who provided a copy in exchange for my honest review. Five stars, and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Collins.