The Heirs

Starred review from March 13, 2017
In Rieger’s (The Divorce Papers) incisive novel a wealthy Manhattan family is thrown into disarray when their beloved patriarch, Rupert Falkes, dies and leaves a surprising legacy that may tear apart his heirs. When a woman claiming to be Rupert’s mistress and the mother of two of his sons demands her share of the estate, it’s not a question of money or reputation that sends the Falkes clan reeling, but the possibility that their close-knit bonds were all a lie. Rupert’s widow, Eleanor, and their five sons, Harry, Will, Sam, Jack, and Tom, all have different reactions to the grief and confusion as they weigh the decision to have DNA testing done to find out for sure. No matter what they decide, no matter what the outcome of that choice might be, they realize that what they really seek is closure. Rieger wrestles perceptively with difficult questions and, building off a deceptively pedestrian premise, shines incrementally increasing light on the Falkes’ extended web of familial and emotional ties, sucking the reader into the tangle of emotions and conflicting interests. Reiger’s book is a tense, introspective account of looking for truth, and instead finding peace.

Starred review from March 1, 2017
After her husband's death, a Manhattan blue blood and mother of five receives a letter. Could her husband have had a secret second family?According to an interview with Rieger (The Divorce Papers, 2014), about 25 percent of the people who have DNA testing learn that their fathers are people other than the men they thought they were. From that inspiration, she devised this assured novel of family, money, and secrets, reminiscent in theme and tone of Edith Wharton, though in Rieger's world, those who err are not necessarily punished. Rupert Falkes, dropped off in his infancy on the steps of a British church, is a self-made man of the highest order, having come to the U.S., attended Yale Law School, and married the beautiful Eleanor Phipps, who comes from "that class of New Yorker whose bloodlines were traced in the manner of racehorses." The Falkeses have five sons: Harry, a lawyer; Will, a Hollywood agent; Sam, a medical researcher; Jack, a genius musician; and Tom, a federal prosecutor. Two "married Jewish," one is gay, all went to Princeton, and all adore their mother. When a woman named Vera Wolinski claims that her two grown sons are also Rupert's and are thus entitled to a share of his estate, the family is thrown into disarray. Only Eleanor is calm--rather than get into DNA testing and court battles, she feels she "should do something for them." Eleanor may have no burning need to know the truth (or perhaps she already knows it), but her sons don't feel that way, and readers, of course, always want the scoop. 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. This is Eleanor's view, certainly, and she is a character you don't argue with. Just in time for poolside reading, this elegant novel wears its intelligence lightly.

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Starred review from May 1, 2017

Following The Divorce Papers, Rieger presents another engrossing family drama in this sweeping story of an upper-crust Manhattan couple, Rupert and Eleanor, and their five sons. All five shining stars--a doctor, a law professor, a trumpet prodigy, a Hollywood agent, and a prosecutor--went to Princeton and have their own adult relationships and issues. But Rupert's death leaves them grief struck, which worsens when another woman claiming that Rupert had fathered her two sons wants part of his estate. Family members react in different ways to the news; alternating chapters present their individual points of view and unfold tangential story lines. Eleanor details the fascinating tale of her first love, Jim, whom her family forbade her to marry because he was Jewish. And the chapters by Jim and the "other woman" enrich the reader with the details of their lives--balancing the other family members' perspectives. VERDICT 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. [See Prepub Alert, 11/27/16.]--Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC

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