Fifty years...that's how long it has been since Kate had seen Charlie. Much had changed during that time. Kate was now a wealthy, powerful woman in both Florida real estate and politics. She was gorgeous and glamorous. As for Charlie, he was now living in Florida, too, and selling luxury cars. No matter the different stations in their lives, once reunited all disparities were tossed to the winds. After all, there was a prenup. Readers first meet them on their wedding day and what a celebration it was. SHELL GAMES, a novel by Bonnie Kistler, is about what happens after the wedding. Seamlessly, the protagonist changes from Kate to her daughter Julie. Growing up in her mother's shadow was not easy, but she accepted their relationship for what it was. When on the night of Kate and Charlie's honeymoon, it was law enforcement who called Julie, and her role in the relationship changed. Kate had told police that Charlie confessed to a decades-old unsolved murder case. Charlie denied Kate's claim. Who was telling the truth and how was Julie to find answers? As the narrative progresses, things become more and more complicated and Julie faces one dilemma after another. Was she actually as capable and competent as her mother? She would soon find out.
Packed with twists and turns, secrets and deceit, readers will wonder if any of the characters can be trusted. Boldly plotted and immersive, SHELL GAMES holds readers' attention from the start to its totally unexpected conclusion. For those who enjoy an entirely unpredictable psychological thriller, SHELL GAMES is highly recommended.
A dazzling thriller about a young woman whose fabulously wealthy mother might be the victim of an elaborate con or might be losing her mind––and the daughter can’t tell where the truth lies.
Julie’s mother Kate is a force of nature––a glamorous woman of seventy, a self-made real estate developer, a grande dame in Florida society, and a power broker in Florida politics. It wasn’t easy for Julie to grow up in the shadow of such a dynamo, but she loves her mother, and she and her husband Eric are thrilled when Kate marries her long-lost high school sweetheart, a salt-of-the-earth man named Charlie.
But their storybook romance ends abruptly. On their wedding night, Kate calls the police in hysterics to report that Charlie just confessed to a notorious unsolved crime from decades before.
Charlie says she imagined it. Eric says that Kate has dementia. And the FBI says that Charlie couldn’t possibly have committed that crime.
Julie doesn’t know what to believe. Is her brilliant mother losing her mind? Or is sweet, lovable Charlie gaslighting Kate to gain control of her fortune?
As Julie tries to navigate through this maze of paranoia and mind games, cracks start to develop in her own marriage as it seems that Eric is keeping secrets . . .
Set against a backdrop of rampant development and devastating climate change, Shell Games is a psychological thriller that will make your head spin and the pages turn as you wonder exactly who is doing what to whom.
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