My cousin recommended Karen White’s The Night The Lights Went Out  and I read it over two days at the very end of 2018.

From the Publisher’s Summary:

Recently divorced, Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to the Atlanta suburb of Sweet Apple, Georgia. It’s not her first time starting over, but her efforts at a new beginning aren’t helped by an anonymous local blog that dishes about the scandalous events that caused her marriage to fail.

Merilee finds some measure of peace in the cottage she is renting from town matriarch Sugar Prescott. Though stubborn and irascible, Sugar sees something of herself in Merilee—something that allows her to open up about her own colorful past.

Sugar’s stories give Merilee a different perspective on the town and its wealthy school moms in their tennis whites and shiny SUVs, and even on her new friendship with Heather Blackford. Merilee is charmed by the glamorous young mother’s seemingly perfect life and finds herself drawn into Heather’s world.

In a town like Sweet Apple, where sins and secrets are as likely to be found behind the walls of gated mansions as in the dark woods surrounding Merilee’s house, appearance is everything. But just how dangerous that deception can be will shock all three women….

I enjoyed The Night The Lights Went Out,  but it isn’t without its share of challenges. I figured out the three big plot reveals early on in the book. And at times I felt like the book was trying to decide if it was women’s fiction or a thriller. Ultimately, that all worked itself out into a satisfying story.

There were two things that resonated with me as I was reading this. I think these may make the book appeal to me in ways it may not appeal to others. First is that I live quite near the town Sweet Apple represents. In fact, I was there last night. It’s neat to recognize so many things that are a part of the story. And White isn’t wrong in her depiction of many people in the area.

The second thing is Sugar’s story. Parts of it resonate based on stories from my own family, years back. That made her backstory all the more compelling and relatable for me.

I did have a few problems with the book. Like I mentioned, I was able to glom onto the major plot twists pretty quickly, so it became more of “let’s see if I’m right” versus finding a big reveal at the end. One part of the story is reminiscent of a particular scene in Gone With the Wind. These things did not detract from the story for me. I enjoyed reading it and getting lost in the story, but really, Sugar is who made this book for me.