“The Nest”

It is often said that even the closest families can be split apart by money.  In “The Nest” author Cynthia D’Asprix Sweeney has constructed a strong plot that deals with a dysfunctional family and what money or the lack of will lead four siblings to do.

The nest is a joint trust fund that Leo Plumb Sr. had set up to be distributed when the youngest of his four children reached the age of forty.  It was supposed to be a modest inheritance that would help his children as they reached middle age.  Unfortunately, over the course of time and stock market downturns, the nest had depreciated in value.

Each of the four children, Leo, Jack, Beatrice, and Melody had come to rely on the nest to help them out of financial difficulties and each was eagerly awaiting the time when they could split the funds.

When irresponsible Leo crashed his car, all of his siblings will suffer.  The passenger, a waitress that Leo had picked up at a wedding reception, has sustained serious injuries, which result in having a foot amputated.  In order to keep the whole incident quiet, the young girl was paid off by Leo’s mom.  She used part of the nest to do so.

As the plot unfolds, each of the Plumb siblings deals with Leo’s accident and what they can do to get him to repay the nest.

This is a novel about family–how each sibling depends on the others and how each lets the others down.  Author Sweeney, in her first novel, has created well-written characters and a plot that never bogs down.  This is a very good read.