Book Review: The Change
I received this galley in exchange for an honest review.
Author: Kirsten Miller
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: May 3, 2022
Format: eBook
★★★★★
This book is perfect for those that like: Stories featuring women over 40, revenge plots, or a bit of the paranormal.
You might not like this book if you aren’t into: Stories of abuse, sexual assault, or crimes against children.
Favorite Line: "Women are allowed everywhere these days. Golf courses, nudie bars, the Racquet and Tennis Club. It would be scandalous if we weren’t allowed. So instead, we’re just not invited." ~ Harriet Osborne
The Book
In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment...
After Nessa James's husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she's left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn't take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead--a gift she's inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.
On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn't left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriet's life is far from over--in fact, she's undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.
Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw--until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.
Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl's murder leads to more bodies, and to the town's most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don't apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriet will take matters into their own hands...
The Review
Before I dig into my thoughts on The Change, I wanted to put a content warning right at the top of this review. This book is not going to be for everyone. The story is centered around several sexual assault crimes against young girls. None of the rapes or assaults happen on the page, but there is enough detail to give the reader a good idea of what happens to these girls. Please know that before going into this story.
God, I love a good revenge plot. Especially when it’s a revenge plot against all those men in the world who chew and spit women out like they are Kleenex. After working 25+ years in two predominantly male-led fields, I’ve had my fair share of condescending smiles, accusations of having an “attitude” when defending myself, full-on co-opting of ideas, and being sexually harassed. We women live our lives in partial secrecy due to the wills of men, aka the whisper networks we use to protect each other. Not just at our jobs, but at parties, bars, hell, even family events. We all know how to navigate this line of communication - just enough to warn, but not enough to accuse. And why would we do this, especially if we know the man in question is dangerous? Because we also know that 9 times out of 10, it will be us, the whistleblower/messenger/person you are trying to warn that will suffer the most.
All that to say this - The Change is a full-on rally cry against whispering what we want to scream out loud. Kirsten Miller does a brilliant job weaving together three women’s lives, their revenge plots against the patriarchy, and a mystery story to make for a tension-filled read that I could not put down. I devoured this story in a day and it will stay with me long after.
It’s not an easy read with the subject matter centering around young girls being murdered, nor is it a complex mystery as you are given the guilty parties pretty early on (and the “twist” wasn’t that surprising) but, knowing the outcome didn’t take away the pleasure of watching these people get their due. It was the unfolding of it all that kept me riveted. I knew that we weren’t going to get ambiguous endings where a look or a quiet word lets the villain finally know they were caught. Nope. We get the satisfaction of an all-out, in your face, “MORNING, MOTHERF*CKER!” riot against the evil in this book. And evil they are.
Read this if you want a magnificent, slightly paranormal tale of three over 40 women who not only come into their own when society has deemed them no longer useful but also exact their sweet revenge on those who need it most. And then tell another friend about it. Whisper Network indeed.
The Author
Kirsten Miller is a groundbreaking feminist author in YA literature, best known for her popular Kiki Strike series. In addition to writing novels, Kirsten spent twenty-five years as a strategist in the advertising industry. During that time she worked for some of the largest agencies in the world, as well as boutique agencies and an eight-person start-up. She’s proud to have quit at least two of those jobs over ads and incidents described in The Change.