Recommended Reads: A Friend of the Family by Lauren GrodsteinA Friend of the Family traces the disintegration of a wealthy New Jersey suburban family. This suspenseful novel is narrated by Pete Dizinoff, a successful family doctor with a wife, a son, and close friends. Jumping back and forth in time between the idyllic past, where Pete and his wife built a life with their beloved son Alec, and the present day, where Pete is estranged from his family and being sued for malpractice, this dark family story traces how a perfect suburban life can so easily shatter. Pete is incensed to learn that his treasured only child is dating Laura, the daughter of his best friends Joe and Iris, who is not only older than Alec but has a criminal past. Pete's efforts to end Alec and Laura's relationship will turn out to have tragic consequences. Grodstein does a brilliant job of getting inside the mind of a middle-aged Jewish doctor and evoking the suburban New Jersey milieu. A sense of dread consumes the story and you'll read on wanting to find out what horrible incident occurs to estrange Pete from his family and friends.
