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Penelope Cox has worked hard to put a particular time in her past behind her. Even though the time included her best friends from college, she never contacted them again, and her husband, whom she met not long afterward, knows almost nothing about them or the experience. But then one of those friends, Willa, appears at her door asking for help. She says she needs a place to stay where her abusive husband won’t know to look.
Penelope’s life isn’t as happy as she would like it to be, though it all looks good from the outside: Her husband has been out of work for a year and has been finding himself by engaging in lots of “healthy living” activities, and she has been working hard at her job. Add two teenagers to her life, and she has a lot on her plate. She has mostly been able to keep her memories locked away of the year when she and Willa and three others shared a house right after college graduation, partying much of the time and forming their own little family. But cracks are forming, and she fears Willa’s presence could bring back too much she can’t face.
Willa’s arrival, however, surprisingly lifts her spirits and even brings her family together: her fun and outgoing friend charms them all, and she helps out around the house, taking some pressure off Penelope. That’s just initially, though: as days and then some weeks go by, she notices some strange things happen and wonders about Willa’s motivations.
The story goes between the present and 20 years previous, of the time “the Spires” spent living in a converted church. Love, sex, plenty of alcohol and sometimes drugs, jealousies, and rivalries all built up, and one night ended in a fire that left someone dead.
Penelope realizes eventually she has to find out the truth about Willa’s appearance and some things that happened before, but it could ruin her tenuous balance in her current life or even lead her into danger.
The Spires is a mostly satisfactory story, not unlike others in the genre that follow the formula. Someone has managed to bury long-gone secrets of something they did; someone or something comes back to open up the wounds and expose the secrets; danger ensues; resolution. I just found after finishing this book, which didn’t stand out in any way, that I think I may want to take a break from this type of story. Without finding one that does it exceptionally well, I’m getting tired of it.
Rated: High. Profanity includes almost 50 uses of strong language, around 30 instances of moderate profanity, around 30 uses of mild language, and about 90 instances of the name of Deity in vain. The book has a number of references to alcohol and drug use. Sexual content includes some kissing and a few sex scenes, fairly brief but with moderate detail. Violence includes some fighting, brief references to possible domestic abuse, one person trying to choke another, and a fatal fire.
