All you can eat at the O.K. Corral.

To be perfectly honest, when I finished this book, I was uncertain whether to give it a star rating of five, or only three. Five for the total involvement I had felt with the four main protagonists around whom this story is woven. Or three at the sudden shock of its unexpected ending at a very vulnerable point for three of them - and no conclusion to the original question, why did their ever cheerful good friend, Anna Marie, without any warning, commit suicide a few days before Easter?

Batesville Lakes Trailer Park is the less than desirable home location of four female friends. Made beautiful mostly by the undeserved road names like Rosepetal Lane and Tulip Trace, the Park is the seedy site of older style trailers, with narrow surrounding ground space for a garden and drug using teenagers with nothing much to do other than hang out together. The four women find comfort and even fun in each other's company including a girl's bowling night out every Thursday. They used to be five but the story begins on the day of that fifth woman's funeral. Anne Marie had always seemed the happiest of the group, their confidante and supporter, so her sudden suicide by drugs and wine was a devistating shock especially since she was a Catholic. She had not given even the slightest hint to her friends of what she intended and it increasingly began to haunt them. Why did she do it?

This is not a murder mystery in the usual sense. Indeed, there is really very little story at all, other than the incidents, longings and sorrows which daily occur individually to the group of four during the weeks following the funeral. But as their lives slowly evolve, the question emerges ever louder in the story itself, why did the happy, the lucky one of their original group, kill herself?

Mostly well written, the dialogue is good and the friends emerge as very real people. Their situations are not necessarily pleasant, one is a sex worker, one works in a Bunny bar, all are parents and some described scenes tend towards the lurid. But there is also an empathy built between each one and the reader. The narration by Lindsey Covey is excellent. Her voice is pleasant, an easy listen, and she reads with good pace and intonation, giving all of the protagonists clear and appropriate definition increasing the reality of each one. There are occasional repeated lines or phrases, but whether this is a glitch in the editing or a quirk of the text itself is difficult to say.

I was fortunate in being freely gifted a complimentary copy of Trailer Park Wives by the rights holder, at my request, via Audiobook Boom. Thank you so much. After a slightly slow start on my part, it absorbed me in a way that few books do, hence my surprise when it ended. I understand that there is a second book, Trailer Park Wives, Double Width Edition, which continues the story and this has instantly entered amongst books at the top of my must read list.
Not, perhaps, a book for everyone. There are sex scenes, and comments, which could upset some people. And no violent action, either. There is also talk and use of drugs in a limited way and hints of abuse. But for anyone who enjoys really getting to know characters who çome to life as three dimensional people , and with a growing mystery to solve, this book is highly recommended.

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