Title: Madeline’s Miracles
Author: Warren Adler
Publisher: Stonehouse Press
Pages: 360
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Virginia Sargent, a commercial artist living the California lifestyle with her stockbroker husband, Jack, and twin pre-teen daughters, who are undisputed masters on the soccer field, meets an enigmatic woman at her beauty parlour. That woman is Madeline Boswell, and she knows everything about Virginia and her family.
Virginia feels drawn to her, and before long, as Madeline’s predictions begin to come true, she begins to trust her completely. She becomes so obsessed with Madeline that she makes her the sole subject of her canvas. She truly believes Madeline’s promise that she can keep their family safe and happy, help them achieve their dreams and protect them from all dangers.
At first Jack is sceptical and spends time and energy trying to expose Madeline as a two-bit psychic and a charlatan. But when his daughter is saved from near tragedy at a football game, he becomes a fanatical convert.
Before long, Madeline is invited to live in their beautiful home, and the couple accord her the status of a demi-god. She dictates terms on every aspect of their lives, from their work, parenting and the stock market. They begin to follow her advice, no matter how outlandish it may seem. But then strange things begin to happen. Lines that should never be crossed are transgressed. Who is Madeline? Is she really clairvoyant, able to see the future and protect their family from unknown dangers, or is she nothing but a sleazy conwoman?
The story is written in the 3rd person past tense PoV of Virginia and Jack in alternate chapters. We don’t see much of the girls. For the most part, we are told that they are busy at soccer practice. It would have been interesting to have their 3rd person PoV too to see how their parents’ acceptance of this woman affected them, and what they made of it.
The writing is good, and the dialogue believable. The football match in which the twins work their magic is a turning point for the family and is well written.
While the author builds up the story well, the ending is not very convincing. There wasn’t enough conflict to make the characters credible. Also, we get to see Jack’s journey from scepticism to conviction, but for Virginia, it seems as if it takes almost nothing for her to become a complete believer. The fierceness with which she places Madeline on a pedestal, and worships her, treating her at once as a god and a mother made me uncomfortable.
There are references to sex, but they are not gratuitous, even though they are sickening to read about because of what they represent.
Madeline seems like a one-woman cult, and like Jack and Virginia, we hover between rejection and acceptance of the strange things happening in the life of the Sargents. Though a work of fiction, we have seen enough evidence of sensible people giving over their lives into the control of another person to know that such things are very much possible.
(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)
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