Warning - contains plot spoilers....

I found this book a decent, albeit predictable, read. Nothing terribly exciting or surprising happens and the 2 main characters plod along their unoriginal narratives until the book just ends.

It's a story that's been told many, many times, whether it's 2 brothers, or 2 sisters, or in this case, 2 friends. One friend comes from old-money 'haves' & the other from the wrong side of the tracks with the requisite chip on his shoulder 'have-nots'. Hugh, the 'have' character, disdains the family name, money & inherent priviledges. Ed, the 'have-not' friend (as if just being the poor but brilliant and determined 'have-not' isn't sufficient, he is also Jewish in a setting where that's snobbily derided) dedicates his life to working ridiculously hard and amasssing enough of a fortune that his Jewishness is overlooked in favor of his new-found social standing. Fast forward a few decades, after Hugh realizes that he has spent his life trying to rid himself of what he finally realizes ... is his essential self. He performs the requisite charity work in Africa, marries the WASP-y girl of his dreams, has a family and then, ultimately realizes .... that being from a long line of wealth & priviledge isn't inherently a bad thing, that it's (say it with me now) what you do with said life & wealth & priviledge is what ultimately counts. And of course the same with Ed's journey. He predictably realizes that he was fine as he was made, and that having a goal of making more-than-enough money to buy your way into the snobby country-club life, at the end-of-the-day, leaves one hollow and empty. Thus the 'Dual Inheritence' theory (the title refers to the 2 major factors that contribute to a personality: nature/culture/surroundings nurture/genes/family, etc) leaves the reader to decide: all that Hugh did, everywhere he traveled, he ultimately (and predictably) realized that internally he simply IS from the right-side-of-the- tracks & that's OK. And Ed? Same self-discovery: he made the money, bought the clothes, the homes, all of his focus on the exterior, only to realize that no one sees him any differently b/c he's still the same forthright-to-the-point-of-being obnoxious person on the inside & that's OK. Just like this book itself.......just OK.

I think people who will best like this book will be those who've read others by Christina Schwarz as they'll be familiar with the seemingly slow pace that gradually builds to an interesting conclusion. Those unfamiliar with her work might give up too soon, not realizing that Schwarz likes to build to an eventual surprise ending. Although those who have previously read Schwarz may wonder about the use of water and resultant drowning used again in this new book. I liked the book, I didn't love it. Like her prior works the female characters seemed more developed, more interesting than the men. My favorite of hers remains 'Drowning Ruth'. I would recommend sticking with the characters in TEOTE as the end has a nice surprise and a satisfying conclusion for the protagonist.

The tag-line for this book reads "New Hyde Hospital's psychiatric ward has a new resident. It also has a very very old one." Sounds intriguing, right? It's not and neither is anything in this book. I don't think it would spoil the yawn of an ending to say that there isn't in fact anything supernatural going on at New Hyde. And the 'scary' resident referred to in the tag line isnt "very very" old - he's just old. And not in a suspenseful kind of way - more like in a (hold tight now) crazy-guy-in-a-mental-hospital-who-is-more-crazy-than-scary. The story plods and the least interesting character is unfortunately the main one. A man who insists on being called Pepper "because he's spicy". Huh? It's downhill from there. Some, and only some, of the other residents are interesting and it's detrimental to the story that the least amount of time is spent with them. The most is spent with our hero Pepper who is one of the dullest protagonists I've ever encountered. The story is way longer than it needs to be. The book felt like what could've been a serviceable short story stretched out a few hundred pages too long. Not much happens at New Hyde so in that respect the story would also have worked if it had been more character-driven. But instead you only get a few snippets of the truly interesting patients and far too much of Pepper.

After reading Rosamund Lupton's 1st book "Sisters" I eagerly awaited her sophmore effort. Was even happier to find out that I could receive an advance copy through BookBrowse but maybe I was too eager because I was very disappointed. I thought the literary device of having Grace & her daughter be like 'spirit detectives' was really reaching for something it never quite grasped. It didn't help that I found Grace to be a silly naive woman. The reveal of "who-dun-it" was a total letdown. at that point I was so irritated with Grace and her silly daughter that I just wanted the book to end. I really wanted to like this book just as much as I had Lupton's first book (which I loved) but unfortunately it just wasn't that good. It reminded me a lot of "Passages" where the main character did the same thing - run around and around a hospital never paying attention to anyone or anything but her own agenda. Totally clueless to everything except herself. Grace unfortuntately reminded me of that character.

I was hoping for a gripping and suspenseful Laura Lippmann book but unfortunately this wasn't it. It's a decent character-driven story but I was hoping for a plot twist or an ending you couldn't see coming. I was disappointed that I didn't find the plot engrossing or that I had no trouble putting it down. I usually like Lippman's books and was sorry that this wasn't one of my favorites.