REVIEW Writing style, twisted plot take readers on joyride

The seemingly disjointed details all come together at the end.
By REBECCA STUMPF
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
"The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done," by Sandra Newman (HarperCollins, $24.95)
Debut novelist Sandra Newman has pieced together a brilliantly wicked assessment of human nature in this account of a dysfunctional 30-year-old orphan, her brother, a would-be guru and a New Age "school" the three ultimately form.
Newman, a former professional gambler, was nominated for 2002's prestigious First Book Award given by London's Guardian newspaper for this manic tale tracing the roots of the Moffat family and its twisted history.
At 3, Chrysalis Moffat was adopted by a rich, white California family. She thinks her father found her in Peru, but the details are shrouded in his mysterious past, and her father carried them with him to the grave before Chrysa was old enough to ask questions.
Feeling very much alone after her mother dies from liposuction complications, Chrysa cocoons herself under her bed to wallow in self-pity, rarely venturing out of the family's mansion -- until the sudden appearance of her brother, Eddie (as it turns out, sole heir to their mother's estate).
Coincidences
Eddie announces that he is converting the family home into the Tibetan School of Miracles, a haven designed specifically to con cash from naive Californians. Eddie's friend Ralph, a Scot who once spent time in Katmandu, will be coming on board as a resident "guru" to help lure customers. To everyone's surprise, the school becomes a huge success, and a budding relationship develops between Chrysa and Ralph.
Through an odd twist, it turns out that Eddie's long-lost love, Denise, is Ralph's sister. Denise, a professional gambler, ultimately holds the answers to questions about Chrysa's past and the mind-blowing coincidences that link the two families together.
Sometimes writing in a wonderfully creative outline form, Ms. Newman presents facts as the characters see them in an easy-to-read stream of consciousness that mimics human thought processes.
The jumpy plot and lack of transitions make "The Only Good Thing" a bit like watching a "Seinfeld" episode as seemingly random events converge in the final moments to tie everything together.