Elin Hilderbrand's final Nantucket novel, Swan Song feels like both a fond farewell to her book franchise, as well as a love letter to the island that is her cherished home.
Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh is set to retire. But before he does, he has to get through one more summer in Nantucket. Of course there's no chance of smooth sailing. Trouble arrives soon in the form of a new couple who comes to town, and they immediately take the island by storm, stirring up all sorts of drama and intrigue.
What is it that makes Elin Hilderbrand's books so irresistible? Is it her plot or her characters? Or is it that Nantucket is an aspirational place for most of us, filled with seemingly wealthy and beautiful people with nothing better to do than soak up the sun and stir up drama? So to step into these stories feels like a break from normal life, a vacation of sorts. Or even better, a staycation without the hassle of having to leave the comfort of one's couch.
And Hilderbrand definitely understands and plays that up. Her stories always have that light, playful, conspiratorial tone, inviting the reader into the exclusive lives of these Nantucket elites. She never takes the stories and the characters too seriously, and the result is the perfect dose of fun and escapism.
Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket year round and knows the island inside and out. And you can feel that in her stories. All the local restaurants and beaches and gathering places she includes adds so much authenticity and charm to the whole thing, and it makes you want to visit Nantucket. In fact, now that Hildebrand is done writing Nantucket stories, maybe their tourism board can just scoop her up since she's pretty much already doing that job.
One thing to note is that the blurb makes this seem like a mystery, but it isn't really. Coco disappears off of a boat, and we alternate between the police trying to figure out what happened and the events leading up to it. But that's rather misleading because it implies there are suspects and motives and clues, not to mention a denouement that explains it all. But none of that really happened here. So just make sure you don't have the wrong expectations going in.
The other thing worth mentioning is that I didn't really like any of the main characters. Now that isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, but in this case, I feel like I could've connected with the story just a little bit more if I did. Initially, Coco and Kacy were both interesting, but then as the story went on, they started to annoy me a bit with their inability to communicate and make good decisions. In other words, they were both rather immature, and then you add in the Richardsons, and at times, this felt like a story about a bunch of teenagers rather than adults. But that is a small quibble since I obviously had a lot of fun with it.
Oh, one last thing. This is marked as part of a series, though I've only read one other book in it. I neither felt like I was missing out on the ones I haven't read, nor did I feel like the one I did read contributed anything substantial to this. The books in the series share some similar characters as they take place in the same Nantucket universe, but it isn't necessary to read all of them (or even one) prior in order to maximumly enjoy this one.
There's definitely a bittersweet feel to this final book. But fortunately for me, I am rather late to the Elin Hilderbrand party. I only discovered her a few years ago, though she has written 30 books. So even though she may be done with Nantucket, I still have many more of her books to go before I have to call it quits.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
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