November, 2005
Burlington County, NJ, beware! Hell-on-wheels Heather Peters has arrived, cell phone and Gucci handbag at the ready, to decorate her new McMansion to the hilt, become the ultimate class mom, and propel her lawyer husband toward making partner. Then, face to face with a timber rattler in her backyard, she commands Harlan White, the local handyman, to kill it, a felony in a state where the snakes are considered an endangered species. Taking the blame, she gets hauled off from back-to-school night to spend an evening in jail, then basks in the national media circus that follows. It's only when an animal rights group unleashes 1500 lab rats "liberated" from a nearby testing facility that things really get ugly, and Heather swings into high gear. Add a greedy, libidinous developer, squeamish neighbors, and a cutthroat Halloween costume party for a zany poke at suburbia. Galant, whose witty and topical social commentary has graced the pages of the New York Times, nails it with her first novel. Fun for all popular fiction collections.
Christine Perkins, Burlington P.L., WA
