An Organized Panic

Sibling rivalry is the focus of Friedmann's (Too Jewish; Secondhand Smoke) latest novel. Cesca Price and her brother, Ronald, were raised in a secular humanist home. Cesca, who is a successful artist, remains that way, but Ronald, whose day job is cleaning up murder scenes, has become a fundamentalist Christian minister. Cesca is the executor of their recently deceased mother's estate. Ronald wants the money to build a megachurch, to which each of his congregants will donate $20 weekly to support him. Their disagreements will result in lawsuits and a further pulling apart of their families. Like the siblings in the earlier Side Effects, Ronald and Cesca represent different sides of a coin that is still one coin despite their differences. Friedmann captures the atmosphere of New Orleans and its various factions in an enticing manner. Her ability to create believable characters about whom the reader cares is stellar. Even the lawyers who represent the Price siblings in their dispute are real people.