House of Wonder

Jenna has been running a design firm and independently raising a child; her twin brother, Warren, has been living with their mother and delivering pizza—at the overripe age of 37. In Royal Court, the neighborhood in suburban New Jersey they call home, houses are for sale but no one is buying. Mysterious break-ins have the neighborhood gossiping, and Jenna’s mother pleads for Jenna to spend time at the family home. After returning to Royal Court, Jenna suspects the shabby state of the house is not the real reason her mother wants her company—this becomes apparent after Warren comes home brutally beaten. Soon, the police are on their doorstep, and her brother is linked to the string of petty thefts in the neighborhood. In order for Jenna to keep her family together, she must accept the truth about her brother and mother. The story’s realism is believable and the prose is solid, but Healy’s (Can I Get an Amen?) loosely crafted characters lead generic emotional lives that play out in the confines of a generic suburban drama. (Sept.)