I can’t quite define The Opportunist by Elyse Friedman. I suppose it is part thriller, part family drama? But I’m not sure that accurately describes it.
Alana is pretty much estranged from her extremely wealthy family for reasons unknown until later in the book. And then more reasons appear even later in the plot. But more on that…later.
Her brothers worry about their place in the inheritance line when their father takes up with his much younger nurse. They ask for Alana’s help in breaking up the relationship in the most drastic way. “Messy family dynamics” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
I think that is one of the things that I didn’t get about the book – a lot of things seemed like they were overreactions to the actual situation. The family thrived on drama. I suppose there was a good reason, as we find out via flashbacks.
Turns out the family has always been a mess with a dark side.
The chapters aren’t set up with titles so that the reader knows when they are and who is “remembering.” So, you kind of have to pay close attention to that.
Additionally, there are characters and situations that seem thrown in just because…with no real follow-through. And some things come out of nowhere.
For example, Alana’s daughter’s condition isn’t entirely necessary in the bigger scheme of things (unless I missed something somewhere). Stephen comes and goes for one thing. Gertrud also is a mystery, especially given the events at the end.
And don’t get me started on the “twist” about Ed. That felt extremely gratuitous like the author needed to have something contemporary to draw it all together. Oh, and Alana’s sister Lillian as well.
Frankly, the whole middle was muddled to me, like the author had a lot they wanted to put in but didn’t exactly know how to fit it all? And I guessed a major twist about halfway through. Although, to be fair, it was so messy that I wasn’t sure if I was right or not.
What’s funny, though, is that once I accepted that mess, I started looking at everything through a different lens, wondering if I was right and how the author was going to resolve it all.
Turns out that any one of the characters could have been the opportunist. And I liked the book better afterward than I did while I was reading it. Elyse Friedman has written an odd thriller that I would still recommend.
