Novels

"Carol LaHines has invented here a compulsively readable and craftily constructed tale of murder and mayhem. Her wonderfully original unreliable narrator tells a story that will make you laugh and cry and perhaps remember Humbert Humbert in Lolita."

"With pinpoint accuracy, LaHines nabs the inner life of a raging, jerky-eating narrator traumatized by family history who recounts her Lolita-like obsession with allegro turns of brilliance. Ophelia's selective memory, steady wit, and allusions to Dante slip off her tongue with delicious, underhanded humor. Ophelia will make you feel the chill of vengeance, because her fury—delivered in a voice perfectly crafted by LaHines—makes perfect sense."

"Carol LaHines excels in a wry blend of humor and darkness...breathtaking in its descriptive psychological draw and surprising in some of its twists and turns of plot. LaHines creates a vivid story of a woman who embarks on a campaign that leads her further into darkness, taking readers by the hand in a dangerous invitation to join in the journey."

"The Vixen Amber Halloway is dark and compulsive reading. Following a woman's descent into madness after her husband leaves her for another woman, this compact and complex novel pulls you into the mind and delusions of a woman as she slowly devolves while you watch, helpless to stop it."

"The Vixen Amber Halloway combines elements of suspense with thoughtful reflections on human emotion and morality. The protagonist, Ophelia, is a jilted wife who had also been abandoned by her mother decades earlier. The novel expertly considers the continuum of the past, present and future in life's journey. As much as we may try, LaHines observes, the three tenses cannot be compartmentalized and sealed off from each other. What happened in the past does affect our "here and now", which in turn affects our future. LaHines brilliantly acquaints us with Ophelia in a way that elicits sympathy towards her. As her grip on reality and morality begins to slip, however, the reader is torn between that sympathy and the moral boundaries she is about to cross. The reader is compelled to ask: "Is Ophelia a good person or a bad person?" The answer, strikingly, is "Both.""

"Perfectly engaging, provocative, darkly comedic at times, and criminal, I devoured this story. Of course, anyone who has ever been in love can relate to the pain and dangerous rage flowing through Ophelia's veins. Funny to review this on Valentine's Day, but we must examine love in all its forms, even marriages that end behind bars and under a psychiatrist's care. If you are one of the betrayed, discarded, take heart — you can partake of one woman's revenge from the safety of your bed, keeping it fictional. Yes, read it! LaHines is a hell of a writer!"

"An original and very funny novel about a man's obsessive longing and guilt after his mother accidentally chokes on wonton soup. We follow the endearing protagonist through a period of mourning, cleverly interwoven with musical theory and an attempt to sue the Chinese take out restaurant, all brought to a hilarious finale with a last symposium on medieval music."

"It's rare to find a character like Luther van der Loon who makes such a rich and lasting impression—so vividly wounded, exuberant in characterization. Luther embodies the anxious, angst-ridden neurotic we are afraid we will become, or maybe who we aspire to be. In his grief over his mother's accidental choking vis-à-vis death, his obsession with what is the point of life is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. I could read this novel a hundred times and never tire of it."

"Set in New York City, Carol LaHines' debut novel, Someday Everything Will All Make Sense, combines early music, Chinese food, litigation, and love in a hilarious defense of individuality. . . Luther's irrationality makes him both laughable and loveable. His early music obsession, laced throughout the narrative like a sticky cobweb that won't go away, offers metaphors for love and loss. He feels his mother's memory like an overtone ringing after a note sounds. He and Cecilia "vibrate sympathetically" with each other, like tones in a chord. Luther's healing comes in the company of his zany early music friends and their romp through neighborhood bars. As a backdrop, New York is portrayed not as a place to get lost, but to be found. In its ethnic bars and restaurants, he lets loose to enjoy himself and his mates in all their absurd glory, chanting medieval plainsong over heavy metal playing on the sound system. LaHines' Someday Everything Will Make Sense is a comedy celebrating transformation that happens in its own due course."

"LaHines' tale paints a robust picture of a suffering neurotic stuck in his sorrow, her protagonist recalling a Laurence Sterne character. . . . An admirable addition to that venerable category [of] novels to find humor in loss."