Silver Alert, Lee Smith
Silver Alert, Lee Smith
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

Silver Alert

Author: Lee Smith

Narrator: Caitlin Davies

Unabridged: 5 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/18/2023


Synopsis

This funny and endearing novel of family, secrets, and aging follows an elderly man who heads off on a joyride with a new young friend—who may have some secrets of her own.

A driving force in literature, the one and only Lee Smith returns with a road trip novel, a story full of hope and humor about not going away quietly—at any age.

Aging Herb’s charmed life with his dear wife, Susan, in their Key West house is coming undone. Susan now needs constant care, and Herb is in denial about his own ailing health. The one bright spot is the arrival of an endlessly optimistic manicurist calling herself Renee. She sings to Susan during manicures, gets her to paint, and brings her a sense of contentment.

But then Herb and Susan’s adult children arrive to stage an intervention on their stubborn, independent father, and as a consequence, Renee’s gig with Susan—and her grand plans for her own life—start to unravel as well. So much had seemed as if it could change for Renee, who is not the happy, uncomplicated young girl she pretends to be. She is actually named Dee Dee, and she’s fleeing a dark past.

And Herb can’t just let go of all that he has ever had. So, he suggests one last joy ride in his Porsche. And the two take off north out of Key West, soon setting off a Silver Alert. As the unlikely friendship between Herb and Dee Dee deepens, we see how as one life is closing down, another opens up.

In this buoyant novel, the masterful Smith asks: What do we deserve? And how do we make it our own? Sometimes, you just have to seize the wheel.

Fans of Smith’s many books in her storied, bestselling career won’t want to miss her newest novel. And readers of novels like Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes will adore Silver Alert.
 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeneane on February 28, 2023

Lee Smith packed a punch to the face, my face, after reading, Silver Alert. Not having ever read her many books that came before this one, I was shocked to discover characters I have never felt more at home with, falling head over heels in love with them. All those developed for this funny, falling......more

Goodreads review by Judy on April 19, 2023

This book has a cute cover and the title "Silver Alert" made me laugh, so I grabbed it because as I'm getting old I like to read about other older people and what kind of situations they get themselves into. The published description: "This funny and endearing novel of family, secrets, and aging foll......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea (gofetchabook) on April 21, 2023

Thank you Algonquin books for an early release copy of this book. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. I didn’t really get it. I didn’t get any of it. The information about the characters was so shallow and surface level. I feel like the intention was to make it deep and emotional by making one o......more

Goodreads review by Ed on March 07, 2025

Theis fast, easy, and funny read is set in Key West, Florida. It's a bit different than Lee Smith's other books, but it works for me.......more

Goodreads review by Laura • lauralovestoread on July 14, 2023

3.5 stars! Silver alert is a heartwarming story of improbably matched characters that are both loveable and quirky, yet facing challenging hardships. 📖𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙩 ✍🏻Lee Smith 🗓️4.18.23 🏝️Fiction Thank you to my friends at @algonquinbooks for the #gifted copy......more


Quotes

Silver Alert is Lee Smith at the top of her game, and that is a high bar indeed. It’s brilliantly paced with some of the most energetic prose I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. The characters of Herb Atlas and Dee Dee are a pair for the ages, who you will long remember after the fall of the last page.”—David Baldacci, author of Dream Town

"There are many ways to read Lee Smith’s excellent new novel Silver Alert, but I view it as the toll old age has taken on her characters, with all its indignities and absurdities, as well as a wry view of America itself. Staged in iconic Key West, the improviser’s Paradise, it’s an implied prayer for our expressing kindness in gestures large and small."—Ann Beattie, author of The Accomplished Guest

“Lee Smith’s Silver Alert doesn’t just soar.  It seems at times to defy the laws of literary gravity.  That a book so full of hope should emerge right now is truly remarkable.”  —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and Chances Are….

"This hilarious, timely and emotional novel will reframe the way you think about the golden years. Herb and Renee's friendship leads to a high-octane twist that will leave you breathless. Silver Alert is a shimmering arrow that aims straight for the heart." —Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone

“Smith skillfully pivots from wry humor to real tenderness toward her quirkily engaging characters. Beneath the novel’s occasionally frothy surface beats a compassionate, generous heart. A warmhearted story of improbably matched characters trying to reclaim their lives.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Likely to resonate with fans of Marian Keyes, Lynda Rutledge, and Andrew J. Graff, Smith's novel is an incisive and heartwarming exploration of life's fragile phases.”—Booklist