Leila Meacham’s posthumous novel April Storm kicks off the main mystery within the first few words. Kathryn Walker is under surveillance and doesn’t know why. An unknown rival hired the man she learns is following her. Her husband Drew holds significant status as an orthopedic surgeon in their Colorado city of Avon. Unfortunately, he’s been hiding something from Kathryn that’s got her radar pinging. When the puzzle pieces start to fall into place, Kathryn learns both her life and her marriage are in danger.
Kathryn and Drew both come from troubled pasts. Despite their high-class personas, their respective paths to success were riddled with despair. Kathryn was an only child orphaned after her parents’ untimely deaths—her father in a prison altercation and her mother in a car wreck while driving drunk. Drew was born into poverty and raised in a trailer park to listless parents. The young couple clawed their way out of their dire circumstances and met on a college campus in Houston. Kathryn was a bioengineer working on a groundbreaking invention that would take the medical field by storm, while Drew was studying to be an orthopedic surgeon. The lifestyle they’ve curated rivals most. But everything changes when Kathryn’s past and Drew’s failed opportunity start to press in on them.
Kathryn’s discovery of her rival’s identity (no mystery spoilers) is quite compelling. A kind-hearted—and she admits attractive—neighbor, Mike, offers to help her track her assailant and the way they piece it all together is worthy of an episode of Law and Order or Bones. Kathryn works with Mike using her superb drawing talent to create a police sketch of sorts to figure out who is behind the attempts on her life. Once they do, they plan their counter strike.
The secondary mystery is more personal to Kathryn. She believes her husband cheated and plans to leave her at the end of the month. Drew is cagey about his secrecy of late. When Kathryn overhears a conversation between him and his colleague, it’s the last straw. She fights the urge to confront him directly throughout the book, determined to make him voice his transgressions. He skirts the issue until an unsatisfying explanation within the final pages.
Meacham’s writing manages a kinetic energy that keeps the reader advancing through the book easily. From learning the identity of the person surveilling Kathryn to witnessing her sleuth details about her husband’s new display of secrecy, the fast pace can cause the reader to miss some of the more notable messages in the book.
Class is an issue in this text. Drew works so hard to keep up the appearance of a certain standard of living that his pride won’t let him admit the poor investment decision that has drained their finances. He also hopes for a job opportunity to come through that would help get their family back on track, but in the meantime, they had to cancel a long-planned trip to Europe. Kathryn’s professional life is mostly volunteer work but her past life in bioengineering resurfaces and a new door opens for an opportunity she had long thought was closed. Her marriage soon to be over, she starts interviewing for jobs. Rather than assume she will divorce and live comfortably off alimony, she picks up her former career with the intent to make a new name for herself. This seems to comment on how easily personal economics can change and force people to make tough decisions. But it is obvious that Kathryn and Drew are resilient and that is shown to be just as important a trait to have no matter your situation.
Another issue the book tackles is past trauma and not letting it define or derail dreams. One lesson lies in Drew’s extreme overcompensation. He risks losing everything in his desperate attempt to keep everything intact. But once the chips fall, he and Kathryn work through some decisions together and come closer to resolution. Another lesson in this is overcoming the death of their child—evidence of the titular trouble occurring in April. It’s now many years later and the anniversary of the child’s death further dampens Kathryn’s mindset as she deals with the attempts on her life and her husband’s suspected infidelity. Despite the weighted reminder of loss, it forces her to realize the blessing of her two thriving adult children. Meacham makes a statement with her representation of a woman reclaiming her place in an academic and professional space. Kathryn did not obtain her PhD the first time around. She doesn’t resent having started a family, but there is a newfound excitement once she declares her return to prominence. Her determination to do it with or without the support of her husband is also important. Meacham makes it clear that it will not be up to any man, husband or otherwise, for her character to make this personal choice. When her mind is made up, she can’t be trifled with. April Storm does not end with quite the punch that the actions of the book would solicit, but Meacham definitely puts her mystery craftsmanship on display in her final entry into the genre.
FICTION
April Storm
By Leila Meacham
Harper
Published November 12, 2024
