It may be more difficult to keep secrets in a small town, but Mary Alice Roth has managed to keep her secrets for years in “The Old Place” (2022) by Bobby Finger.
The former high school math teacher in Billington, Texas, Mary Alice did not retire gracefully. She even shows up to harass the new math teacher on the first day of school. She is a tormented woman who sees it as her mission to torment everyone else. She lost her husband to suicide, one of the secrets she keeps, then lost her son, Michael, soon after Kenny, his best friend and the son of Ellie, her neighbor, died in an accident.

As the novel begins, Mary Alice and Ellie have finally restored their broken friendship and have begun having morning coffee together. But then Katherine, Mary Alice's estranged younger sister, returns, threatening to reveal Mary Alice's even bigger secret. Her son isn't really dead — he had sent his own obituary to the newspaper — and is now at Katherine's house in Atlanta. She wants to take Mary Alice to him.

Ever obstinate, Mary Alice agrees to go, but only after the community picnic, which she is, as always, in charge of. And this delay leads to the final crisis.

The title, which for most of the novel seems odd, refers to a lakeside cottage owned by Mary Alice, which she has not visited in years. So isolated is it that its location is itself something of a secret. Yet so much of the back story happened there.

This is fine novel with many layers that offers much for discussion groups to talk about. ( )

Mary Alice is recently retired from teaching, but can’t quite give it up. She is at loose ends, needing something to do with her days. The annual picnic is coming up, but she runs that like a well-oiled machine, and it doesn’t take much effort. She does rekindle a friendship with her neighbor, one that had suffered some stress in the past several years. Both their sons died during that long ago summer, and somehow that tragedy linked them together yet drove them apart. Actually, it’s the secrets that Mary Alice is keeping that is slowly destroying her peace of mind. And when her somewhat estranged sister shows up in town, it all cracks wide open. This story starts off quite slowly, with not a lot happening to move the story forward. The characters go about their day, having coffee, coping with daily life. Finally, towards the end of the novel, the pace picks up rapidly, and then the story ends. The problem I had with this tale is the lack of character development aside from the main character of Mary Alice. None of the characters are particularly likable, and I just couldn’t get invested in the story. I realize that many others really enjoyed this novel, and if you are one of those people, I’m happy for you. I was just glad when I finally finished it and could go on to better books. ( )

this was ehh... this story had potential! but overall i thought the story lines were underdeveloped and at the end everything tied up too neat and tidy for my liking. why was this story centered around Mary Alice?? why was it not centered around Michael and Kenneth? i would have liked to read more about Michael and Kenneth and also Samuel and Brian as everything was leading up to their past and who they were and what happened to them and as characters they were hugely impactful to the overall plot and to why Mary Alice was who she was but only received a few pages of attention in the grand scheme of things. i think this book could've been more! it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either ( )

3.5 rounded up ( )

An audiobook that really kept me listening too late at night. Mary Alice has a lot of secrets and so much anger. Definitely not a likable character at all. Her estranged sister, Katherine shows up with information about the biggest secret that will blow up the neat little life of Mary Alice. ( )