Pretty Things
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Community Reviews
Bestselling author Janelle Brown follows up Watch Me Disappear with a saga of two women spanning more than a decade that features numerous unexpected revelations, shocking plot twists, and endlessly intriguing characters.
Nina was raised by a single mother with big aspirations for her brilliant only child, but no motivation to settle down and earn an honest living. Instead, because her mother was pretty and knowledgeable about how to use her appearance, she pulled off con jobs that paid the rent for a time, always on the verge of a really big payday. When the marks got wise or the police began investigating, they moved on.
After college, Nina's dreamed-of big career in the New York art world never became a reality. So when she learned her mother was alone in Los Angeles, stricken with cancer and in need of expensive treatment not covered by insurance, Nina gave up her job as a third assistant to an interior designer specializing in redecorating luxurious vacation homes in the Hamptons. Now she's in Los Angeles, running scams with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Lachlan, a charming Irishman. She maintains a store where she poses as an antiques dealer but, in reality, she works with a fence who takes most of the proceeds from the sale of the goods Nina steals.
Vanessa Liebling comes from West Coast old money. Her father ran the family business -- a San Francisco real estate investment firm. Her brother, Benny, was the worrisome child. Their father feared that Benny inherited their mother's mental illness, a disability that she was never able to manage. They came to the family home, Stonehaven, in Lake Tahoe, a sprawling, medieval-like house filled with antiques and massive portraits of the Liebling ancestors, so that Benny could attend a prep school there after being expelled from a Bay Area school. There, Benny met Nina, who was also enrolled because a teacher recognized her potential and arranged for her to receive financial aid. Her mother secured a job in a casino and put forth the pretense of working a regular, steady job, as Benny and Nina's relationship blossomed. The school was known for launching its graduates into ivy league colleges and big careers. But for Nina, it was another chapter that ended with heartbreak, disappointment, and graduation with a liberal arts degree from an ordinary college, accompanied by a six-figure student loan balance. Nina has always blamed Benny's family, especially his father.
It's twelve years later. Benny's parents are both dead, Nina hasn't seen Benny since she and her mother left Lake Tahoe so long ago, and Vanessa has moved back to Stonehaven after being dumped by her fiancee because he feared she would not make the right kind of wife for an up-and-coming politician. Vanessa became an Instagram influencer with half a million followers and a photographer she employed to ensure that her pictures perfectly illustrated her glamorous life. Her father did not hold back his disappointment, expressing his opinion that her activities did not constitute a career. Vanessa has very little money left and is transitioning the focus of her Instagram posts to more natural and spiritual pursuits. She has to decide what to do about the estate and all of its contents. In the interim, she decides to rent the caretaker's cottage to tourists to bring in some much-needed cash.
Nina has kept track of Vanessa's social media presence and recalls that her father kept a million dollars in a safe situated within Stonehaven because Benny used to pilfer money from his father's stash. She also knows that Benny's birthday was the safe's combination. If she can gain access to the safe and the cash is still there, she will have enough money to pay for her mother's cancer treatment, make a fresh start . . . and evade arrest. No matter what, she has to get out of Los Angeles if she wants to remain free.
Brown relates Nina's story via a first-person narrative with a voice that is compelling, credible, and infuriating. Because Nina is self-aware. She knows that she has made bad choices and is solely responsible for them, as well as the consequences. Yet she is emotionally stuck because, in her mind, the Lieblings stole her future from her and she has never forgiven them. She wants to finally get revenge. She and her mother were forced to leave town. Their unceremonious exit from Lake Tahoe and her inability to complete high school there signify the beginning of the end of the glorious future her mother envisioned for her. She and her mother returned to Las Vegas and her mother resumed grifting. The time they spent in Lake Tahoe destroyed Nina's self-confidence and self-concept. Now that Vanessa is back at Stonehaven and Nina needs money, the time is right. Lachlan signs on and they rent the caretaker's cottage from Vanessa, adopting fictitious identities and histories in order to befriend Vanessa and, hopefully, find that the Liebling safe still holds enough cash to solve Nina's problems . . . and make the Lieblings pay for their treatment of her and her mother.
Nina's narration alternates with Vanessa's who, like Nina, is self-aware in many respects, but also deeply flawed. Vanessa recognizes that she is capable of leading a life that is far more substantial than posting a series of staged photos on a social media platform, but she is self-absorbed and accustomed to a comfortable lifestyle, and uncertain about how to make her own way in the world now that her parents are gone, her trust fund is nearly depleted, and she is responsible for her brother. She has a love-hate relationship with Stonehaven, and is quite lonely and at loose ends in familiar surroundings under the current circumstances.
Pretty Things is an inventive, creative story about hope, regret, grudges, and stunning betrayals. Her development of the characters of Nina and Vanessa is mesmerizing, and Brown ramps up the dramatic tension as the two are reunited, gradually revealing what each knows about the other. Brown's telling of her intricately-plotted story is masterful, the subject matter timely and contemporary. She capitalizes on her settings, evocatively establishing her characters' moods and intentions, and utilizing Stonehaven especially effectively. The estate practically serves as an additional character in the story. Her rich prose grants readers an intimate look into the lives and psyches of Nina and Vanessa, keeping readers on edge as they ponder which they should root for. Or, perhaps, if they should cheer neither of them on. Because the characters are fully formed and multi-dimensional, neither woman fully good or fully bad, the story resonates emotionally, especially with respect to Benny, the troubled young man that Nina never forget. Brown delivers one unexpected development after another, ramping up the story's pace until it culminates with a jaw-dropping finale that most readers will never see coming.
Acclaimed author Harlan Coben says that Brown is "your new must-read author" and he's right. Pretty Things is a smart, entertaining thriller that is thoroughly un-put-down-able.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Nina was raised by a single mother with big aspirations for her brilliant only child, but no motivation to settle down and earn an honest living. Instead, because her mother was pretty and knowledgeable about how to use her appearance, she pulled off con jobs that paid the rent for a time, always on the verge of a really big payday. When the marks got wise or the police began investigating, they moved on.
After college, Nina's dreamed-of big career in the New York art world never became a reality. So when she learned her mother was alone in Los Angeles, stricken with cancer and in need of expensive treatment not covered by insurance, Nina gave up her job as a third assistant to an interior designer specializing in redecorating luxurious vacation homes in the Hamptons. Now she's in Los Angeles, running scams with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Lachlan, a charming Irishman. She maintains a store where she poses as an antiques dealer but, in reality, she works with a fence who takes most of the proceeds from the sale of the goods Nina steals.
Vanessa Liebling comes from West Coast old money. Her father ran the family business -- a San Francisco real estate investment firm. Her brother, Benny, was the worrisome child. Their father feared that Benny inherited their mother's mental illness, a disability that she was never able to manage. They came to the family home, Stonehaven, in Lake Tahoe, a sprawling, medieval-like house filled with antiques and massive portraits of the Liebling ancestors, so that Benny could attend a prep school there after being expelled from a Bay Area school. There, Benny met Nina, who was also enrolled because a teacher recognized her potential and arranged for her to receive financial aid. Her mother secured a job in a casino and put forth the pretense of working a regular, steady job, as Benny and Nina's relationship blossomed. The school was known for launching its graduates into ivy league colleges and big careers. But for Nina, it was another chapter that ended with heartbreak, disappointment, and graduation with a liberal arts degree from an ordinary college, accompanied by a six-figure student loan balance. Nina has always blamed Benny's family, especially his father.
It's twelve years later. Benny's parents are both dead, Nina hasn't seen Benny since she and her mother left Lake Tahoe so long ago, and Vanessa has moved back to Stonehaven after being dumped by her fiancee because he feared she would not make the right kind of wife for an up-and-coming politician. Vanessa became an Instagram influencer with half a million followers and a photographer she employed to ensure that her pictures perfectly illustrated her glamorous life. Her father did not hold back his disappointment, expressing his opinion that her activities did not constitute a career. Vanessa has very little money left and is transitioning the focus of her Instagram posts to more natural and spiritual pursuits. She has to decide what to do about the estate and all of its contents. In the interim, she decides to rent the caretaker's cottage to tourists to bring in some much-needed cash.
Nina has kept track of Vanessa's social media presence and recalls that her father kept a million dollars in a safe situated within Stonehaven because Benny used to pilfer money from his father's stash. She also knows that Benny's birthday was the safe's combination. If she can gain access to the safe and the cash is still there, she will have enough money to pay for her mother's cancer treatment, make a fresh start . . . and evade arrest. No matter what, she has to get out of Los Angeles if she wants to remain free.
Brown relates Nina's story via a first-person narrative with a voice that is compelling, credible, and infuriating. Because Nina is self-aware. She knows that she has made bad choices and is solely responsible for them, as well as the consequences. Yet she is emotionally stuck because, in her mind, the Lieblings stole her future from her and she has never forgiven them. She wants to finally get revenge. She and her mother were forced to leave town. Their unceremonious exit from Lake Tahoe and her inability to complete high school there signify the beginning of the end of the glorious future her mother envisioned for her. She and her mother returned to Las Vegas and her mother resumed grifting. The time they spent in Lake Tahoe destroyed Nina's self-confidence and self-concept. Now that Vanessa is back at Stonehaven and Nina needs money, the time is right. Lachlan signs on and they rent the caretaker's cottage from Vanessa, adopting fictitious identities and histories in order to befriend Vanessa and, hopefully, find that the Liebling safe still holds enough cash to solve Nina's problems . . . and make the Lieblings pay for their treatment of her and her mother.
Nina's narration alternates with Vanessa's who, like Nina, is self-aware in many respects, but also deeply flawed. Vanessa recognizes that she is capable of leading a life that is far more substantial than posting a series of staged photos on a social media platform, but she is self-absorbed and accustomed to a comfortable lifestyle, and uncertain about how to make her own way in the world now that her parents are gone, her trust fund is nearly depleted, and she is responsible for her brother. She has a love-hate relationship with Stonehaven, and is quite lonely and at loose ends in familiar surroundings under the current circumstances.
Pretty Things is an inventive, creative story about hope, regret, grudges, and stunning betrayals. Her development of the characters of Nina and Vanessa is mesmerizing, and Brown ramps up the dramatic tension as the two are reunited, gradually revealing what each knows about the other. Brown's telling of her intricately-plotted story is masterful, the subject matter timely and contemporary. She capitalizes on her settings, evocatively establishing her characters' moods and intentions, and utilizing Stonehaven especially effectively. The estate practically serves as an additional character in the story. Her rich prose grants readers an intimate look into the lives and psyches of Nina and Vanessa, keeping readers on edge as they ponder which they should root for. Or, perhaps, if they should cheer neither of them on. Because the characters are fully formed and multi-dimensional, neither woman fully good or fully bad, the story resonates emotionally, especially with respect to Benny, the troubled young man that Nina never forget. Brown delivers one unexpected development after another, ramping up the story's pace until it culminates with a jaw-dropping finale that most readers will never see coming.
Acclaimed author Harlan Coben says that Brown is "your new must-read author" and he's right. Pretty Things is a smart, entertaining thriller that is thoroughly un-put-down-able.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
How well do you know the people around you? In this day of social media when appearances seem to be everything, can you trust what you see. Con artists,grifters and narcissists are real and this is the story of some of them. The story touches upon themes of friendship, mental illness, and trust to name a few. It's a wonderful psychological thriller and the narrators Julia Whelan as Nina and Lauren Fortgang as Vanessa do a superb job. A great listen!
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