Invisible

Invisible by Carla Buckley is a mystery that features complex family relationships and a mystery. Dana Carlson's sister, Julie, is dying. When Dana is called by Julie's teenage daughter, Peyton, she hurries back to Black Bear, Minnesota. After being estranged from Julie for 16 years, she arrives too late to say good-bye to her sister. Peyton, who is already emotionally distant from her peers, is understandably suffering and Dana stays after the funeral to try and help her and Julie's husband, Frank. Frank, however, resumes drinking and resents Dana's presence.

Adding to this already volatile mix is the notebook Julie left behind. She was sure that something caused her illness and it was making others in town sick too. Dana, amid her own show more regrets and worries, takes on the investigation her sister started, much to the resentment of the whole town.

Invisible has been favorably compared to novels by Jodi Picoult, which I think is a fair comparison. While there is an overwhelming mystery over the cause of Julie's illness, as well as another mystery in Dana's life, there are also many underlying themes, including regret, redemption, addiction, greed, secrets, government safety regulations, to name a few.

The chapters alternate between Dana's and Peyton's point of view. Peyton's chapters open with her discussing a different marine species, which gives clues to her emotional state. Both Dana and Peyton are well developed characters and you will gain some understanding of Julie through their eyes. Frank was less developed and a bit more formulaic.

The plot for the main mystery and the family drama, although somewhat predictable, is engaging and kept my attention. In some ways the mystery involving Dan's demolition work felt like an unnecessary addition to the novel, although bringing up her issues with her partners made sense. Even though circumstances had me reading this novel over a much longer period of time than I would normally take, I enjoyed the pacing of the plot and never felt as if I should just rush to the end.

Highly Recommended

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Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House and Netgalley for review purposes.

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Over breakfast this morning I read about John Snow, a London doctor in the mid-19th century whose research showed that polluted drinking water was responsible for the severe cholera outbreaks that were claiming so many lives in certain areas of the city. The authorities refused to believe him and his substantial evidence, preferring to believe the disease was being caused by bad air, not bad water.

Move this story ahead almost two centuries and change a few details and you have the basic plot for Carla Buckley's novel "Invisible." Dana Carlson returns to Black Bear, Minn., her hometown, after many years away after getting a call from her teenage niece telling her that her older sister, Julie, has seriously damaged kidneys and needs a show more transplant. After arriving in Black Bear, Dana learns that Julie has died and that a shocking number of other locals have failing kidneys, too.

She wonders what has happened in Black Bear since she left town under mysterious circumstances. Is something making all these people sick? Does it have anything to do with the most prominent local industry, a company that manufactures sunscreen and cosmetics? Her sister worked there. So does Julie's husband and daughter, Peyton.

Although "Invisible" is an interesting medical thriller that raises serious questions about the safety of nanotechnology, the novel comes most alive when Buckley writes about the relationship between Dana and Peyton. While Dana searches for answers, Peyton has many questions of her own. Why did Dana disappear? Why has she never even come back for a visit? Why does she stay in town after Julie's funeral? Why is she so committed to tracking down what may be threatening Black Bear when she doesn't live there anymore? What family secrets are being withheld from Dana?

The novel makes compelling reading, even if it doesn't always ring true. The story is telescoped into a matter of days, when in real life it would take months, if not years, to accomplish what Dana, who lacks even the training John Snow had, accomplishes. show less

Dana Carlsen has made a series of unfortunate decisions in her life. Most of these weren't very well thought out and have resulted in somewhat dire circumstances. The first bad decision she made was a teenager when she ran away from her sister and niece, her only surviving family members, when she was seventeen. A series of rather dead-end jobs and a lack of training resulted in her accepting a business partnership with a somewhat unscrupulous man. Her business is under investigation and there aren't any funds in any account because her partner keeps using business money to bail out his family members overseas. Just when it doesn't seem like things could get any worse she receives a phone call that has her leaving her business and the show more investigation to return to her sister, Julie, and their hometown. Unfortunately her return is too late for reconciliation with Julie as she has died of acute kidney failure.

Dana finds that much has changed in her hometown. Her boyfriend is now a high school science teacher. The local bad boy has become the largest employer in the town. Her brother-in-law still can't stand her and apparently neither can her niece Peyton. It doesn't help that she hadn't called or returned in almost seventeen years. The death of her beloved sister Julie is just one in a long line of shocks that Dana must face. She knows that she can't make up for her absence but she tries to continue her sister's research into why so many people in such a small town are dealing with kidney failure. But Dana's research may put her family and hometown at risk. Obviously she couldn't save Julie, but can she save others including her niece Peyton before it's too late?

Invisible seems to make reference to many different things within the story. The first reference that comes to mind is Dana's invisibility with her family due to her prolonged absence. She may have had good reasons to disappear but it has taken quite a toll on her loved ones, especially her niece. The second reference may be to the invisible nano particles used in the manufacturing of body lotion. Dana seems to believe that these invisible particles may be the cause of the increased kidney problems in Black Bear but she's having a hard time convincing anyone else of this possibility. And finally "invisible" may refer to Peyton's feelings toward her father and her aunt. Peyton wants to be strong for her father, but she's beginning to feel as if she doesn't count since he's resumed his drinking. She also feels that her aunt has ignored her and her mom for all these years so they obviously don't matter. Invisible seems to be a coming-of-age story for both Dana and Peyton, mixed with family drama, along with a bit of an industrial-environmental mystery. The beginning of Invisible seemed to go a little slow with the constantly changing voices between Peyton and Dana, but I quickly became used to these dual perspectives and finished reading it with few interruptions. If you're looking for a well-written contemporary fiction read this winter, then I heartily recommend Invisible by Carla Buckley. show less

When a girl whose mother faces kidney failure contacts her long-estranged aunt to see if she might be a donor, a long-held family secret faces exposure. The aunt returns to her small hometown in Minnesota, where she learns that her sister has been investigating the possibility that a factory in the town, its main employer, may be poisoning the residents. My usual reading fare is mysteries and thrillers, and this has a mystery or two and some thrills but is really a book about relationships in a family and small town. I enjoyed it ,but it had ingredients that I wanted to see used differently, particularly one of the main character's work as a demolition expert. It's not the author's fault that I kept wanting it to be crime fiction rather show more than a novel about family secrets, but it did make me feel there was some unrealized potential (e.g. the demolition company is partly owned by Saudis - a portent that just seems lost in the shuffle) that probably was realized perfectly well if you weren't so attuned to the expectations and rhythms of another genre. show less

Review: Invisible by Carla Buckley.

Well written, touching novel which gets inside the heads of several of its characters to show how each of our realities can be different while living through the same set of circumstances. The story is both suspenseful and striving and sometimes predictable with family secrets, environmental crises, and complex characters. The story is also an environmental warning issue surrounded by the research of nanotechnology. Nanomaterials have already been proven to behave like asbestos in the human body.

The author alternates chapters by managing Dana’s character and the character of sixteen year old Peyton throughout the story. Dana’s chapters frequently include vignettes from the past that illustrate her show more own secret history, while Payton’s includes information on ocean life that thematically echoes her own struggles. Peyton is dealing with the death of her mother, boyfriend and best friend issues, her dad seems to be drinking again, and followed-up by the arrival of a not-very-welcome aunt, named Dana.

Julie was Payton’s mother, Dana’s sister, and Frank’s wife who was diagnosed with kidney failure along with others in the town of Black Bear. Dana decides to investigate a possible source for the increase of kidney failure in the town and uncovers a potential toxin in the air, underground and being used by the town’s only grandfathered family business at the Plant Industry in their new product line of sunscreen.

The novel has a lot to offer in many issues and history but I felt like the last fifty pages or so the author rushed to end every last question that I wanted answered fruitfully to leaving me hanging. I thought maybe somewhere near the end the author would have said, “To Be Continued” and a series would develop in the future….

I did like the story but frustrated at the end….. show less

It’s unfortunate that to some people, children are invisible and while that statement does echo one of the plots in this book, it is not the ‘invisible’ subject Buckley refers to. The invisibility of other things can be fatal, as Buckley shows us.

A powerful tale of the loss of a sister, a loved one who protagonist Dana Carlson deemed too upsetting to go home to see for many years. Their secret must be kept at all costs. And it is costly. Then Dana gets a call that her sister Julie is sick. She rushes home, but it is too late.

Cloaked as invisible, the enemy is a danger to anyone residing in Black Bear. Dana decides to stay on after the funeral, despite Frank and Peyton’s—Julie’s husband and daughter—wishes. Dana makes as show more many enemies as she had friends in that town years ago by asking questions and threatening the livelihood of many. While battling these obstacles, Dana must figure out what caused her sister’s illness before it claims another life.

A compelling story that will have you cheering Dana on, while at the same time trying to overcome your dislike of a woman who ran away from something as precious as life itself.

I definitely recommend this great read. show less

I think one of the most interesting parts of this book was when Peyton was the narrator. She had a huge interest in fish and aquariums, and his chapter of hers was prefaced by information of various sea life and also her feelings of the fish, It was a novel way to help the reader understand the character of this young girl, while imparting some very interesting information. This book flowed exceedingly well, Buckley writes as if she was standing right in from of you talking and her dialogue is very natural. I found some of this book frightening because it is actually quite a warning of the some of our new technology and how so much is rushed without thorough study of the long term consequences. It is also a book of family secrets and show more relationships. It was quite good and I look forward to reading more from this author. ARC from NetGalley. show less