The Heirs (Rieger) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Elegant literary prose and supremely likeable characters make this a must-read.
People


Fans of Salinger's stories about Manhattan's elite will enjoy this novel about privileged siblings who grapple with the state of their inheritance and long-held secrets that emerge in the wake of their father's death.
InStyle


Love and sex and money and betrayal make for excellent storytelling. And The Heirs has all of that.… As an exploration of the hidden lives of Rupert and Eleanor Falkes, it is a posh soap opera written by Fitzgerald and the Brontes. As a window on a family shaken by death, it is The Royal Tenenbaums, polished up and moved across town. But its beauty, economy and expensive wit is all its own.
NPR.org


(Starred Reivew.) [Incisive].… Rieger wrestles perceptively with difficult questions and…[shines] light on the Falkes’ extended web of familial and emotional ties, sucking the reader into the tangle of emotions and conflicting interests. Rieger’s book is a tense, introspective account of looking for truth, and instead finding peace. (May)
Publishers Weekly


(Starred Reivew.) Brilliantly constructed and flawlessly written, Rieger's novel brings all these moving parts together. The result is an emotional and satisfying story of how a complicated family and their outliers handle life's most pivotal moments. —Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC
Library Journal


[A] timeless…family drama.… It is a charming, slightly haunting look at a family dealing with the inheritance of legacy rather than money and wondering if what happens after a relationship matters as much as how it was experienced at the time. —Diana Platt
Booklist


(Starred Reivew.) Despite an omniscient narrator who lays out information as quickly and smoothly as a Vegas blackjack dealer, the argument of this book seems to be that we simply can't know absolutely everything and it's better that way.… [T]his elegant novel wears its intelligence lightly.
Kirkus Reviews