The Second Home by Christina Clancy is a story of a
family and how one summer’s events tore everything apart. The story opens with
Ann Gordon, a young woman at her family’s vacation home in Cape Cod. It is 2016
and Ann’s parents have died in a car accident six months ago and she has
decided to sell the house. There were too many bad memories that overshadowed
the good times. Part 1 takes the reader to the summer of 2000, the Gordon
family: Ed, Connie and their daughters, Ann, 16, and Poppy, 15, and their adopted
son, Michael, 16, arrive for their yearly vacation in Cape Cod. The Gordon
family took in Michael after his mother died suddenly and left him with nowhere
to go. This is the summer which changed everything. Ann began babysitting for
the very wealthy Maureen and Anthony Shaw. Poppy fell in with the surfing crowd
and Michael begins a landscaping job. After the summer ends and Ann reveals a
shocking secret, the family is torn apart as Michael leaves with no clue where
he is going. Part 2 brings the reader forward to 2015 as Ann is dealing with
the aftermath of her parents’ death, Poppy is traveling the world and there is
still no word from Michael. Soon word gets out that the Gordon family house is
for sale and Michael comes forward. As they fight over the house, will they
confront the events of that summer and its aftermath? Will the truth be
revealed? Will they be able to heal from years of secrets and lies?
The Second Home is the debut novel for Ms. Clancy and
began strong. The first part was the summer everything changed as Ann, Poopy and
Michael grow up beyond their years when confronted with very real world
problems. The second part is where things got confusing. New characters are
introduced with no real explanation as to their relationship or connection to
established characters. The timeline gets wonky as narrators changes with each
chapter. It was hard to understand what was the present or the past. The
characters were hard to like especially Ann. In the beginning, she was the one
who spoke without a filter, often hurting others as a result. Her father gave
her the nickname, “Ann with a Plan,” as she acts and gets things done. And
usually that would be a good quality, but in part 2 as she is dealing with the
house, Michael’s reappearance, she becomes a bitch. As the action and tension
builds and builds, the end was anticlimactic. I loved the story. I loved Ms.
Clancy’s descriptions of Cape Cod and its residents. However, the characters
were hard to get invested in. The ending was just there with an epilogue that
quickly wraps it up. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but the characters fell
short for me. It’s a strong start for Ms. Clancy and I would look forward to
ready her future novels.
The Second Home
is available in
hardcover, eBook and audiobook
