Concrete Angel

May 1, 2015
A daughter obsesses over the gory details of her mother's life and lies.When Christine Moran is just 12 years old, she confesses to a murder that she did not commit. Her mother, Eve, was caught rifling through the wallet of a man she brought home, and when he picked up the phone to call the police, she killed him, firing off six rounds with the gun her ex-husband had left behind for her protection. Christine concocts a story that she had saved her mother from a brutal attack, and her punishment is relatively minor. At first, Christine is happy to lie for her mother, saving her from jail time and strengthening their curious and intense bond. Then Eve has a new baby, the perfect accessory for her crime spree. From her new perspective, Christine begins to resent her mother, realizing just how much of her life has been plagued with deception. The majority of the novel serves as a character study of Eve from her daughter's perspective. Eve's trajectory takes her from shoplifting and stealing from family members to more elaborate schemes designed to swindle companies and eventually to a multistate scam using faked credentials and bad checks. Though the novel begins with a murder, there isn't much action after that. Abbott provides chapter after chapter of repetitive examples, all meant to demonstrate Eve's bad character. While the shoplifting, hoarding of stolen goods, and failed relationships certainly add to the picture, it's her callousness regarding the man she killed that exemplifies who she truly is. While the characters in Abbott's debut novel are fully realized, the story meanders and stalls.

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Starred review from May 15, 2015

Abbott, a prolific Derringer Award-winning short story writer, explores an unusual and complex mother/daughter bond in her enthralling, dark debut novel. Twelve-year-old Christine adores her beautiful and charming mother, Eve, and when a shocking act of violence threatens to tear them apart, Christine takes the blame, which sets the stage in the years to follow. Eve is compulsively acquisitive and amasses thousands of items that she's bought or stolen. After Hank, Christine's father, finally has had enough, Eve goes through a string of men who enable and even encourage her larcenous, obsessive behavior. Things come to a head when Eve begins using Christine's little brother in her schemes, and Christine plots to break the cycle. VERDICT Abbott alternates the narrative between Christine's voice and a third-person point of view that follows Eve and her relationships. The author perfectly captures not only the life of a girl whose adoration of her mother morphs into mistrust and loathing but sets the story in 1970s Philadelphia when gender roles were taking on new definitions and alternative ways of treating the mentally ill were gaining traction. It's a potent and at times poignant combination. Those who enjoy suspenseful, atmospheric family drama will find much to love here.--Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Christine was 12 years old in the mid-1970s when she saw her mother, Eve, murder a man. Even though she knew her mother was a thief and a liar, a manipulator and a cheat, Christine still took the rap, earning herself some court-mandated therapy sessions but sparing Eve a jail sentence. Eve continues her reign of terror, and it seems Christine is thoroughly under her mother's spelluntil Eve appears to have plans for Christine's three-year-old younger brother. Suddenly, Christine decides it's time to stop mom's evil rampage through life. This is a gripping psychological thriller; it's narrated by the adult Christine, looking back through the years, applying an adult's sense of morality and judgment to the actions of her younger self. The debut novel of a veteran short story writer and the mother of genre superstar Megan Abbott, Concrete Angel will draw fans of the late Ruth Rendell as well as readers of Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train (2015). It might make a very good movie, too, if the casting were just right.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)