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In this standalone from Laura Lippman, Eliza, nee Elizabeth, is a suburban stay-at-home mom recently returned from 6 years in London where her husband was posted. No sooner has she returned to the area outside of Washington where she grew up does she receive a mysteriously delivered letter from Walter, a death row inmate in Virginia who had kidnapped Elizabeth and held her for 40 days the summer she was 15. Elizabeth was the one who got away, and now Walter faces the death penalty for killing gi
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Maybe this didn't move as slowly as I thought. Maybe I was just rushing to finish it before book club and so couldn't believe that the characters were going out for ice cream AGAIN. Lippman is a much better writer than her Ann Rule-ish plots would lead you to expect, and although I do think the incessant daily life details here served a purpose, knitting the central character's family life with her relationship to her former kidnapper, the story overall felt flabby with Character Development.
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This book could have been awesome, but unfortunately it just fell flat. It was told from multiple POVs, but all four were utterly unsympathetic, which made it really difficult to actually care about what happened. Also, the asides about the children seemed pointless, and never actually went anywhere, so I wonder why Laura Lippman put them in there in the first place.
I almost gave up several times, but the writing was good, and kept pulling me back - I got curious, and wanted to see where it ende ...more
I almost gave up several times, but the writing was good, and kept pulling me back - I got curious, and wanted to see where it ende ...more
I liked this more literary take on the whole "serial killer" genre.
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Creepy already!
It took me a while to warm up to the main character, Eliza, but that may be because (view spoiler). I ended up quite liking the book, though I'd have liked to know exactly what Walter's final statement said.
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I was intrigued by the story, but was disappointed in the way it ended - it kept building up to a big "secret," but there really wasn't much of a secret at all. So...if you can look past that and not expect a big finish, it's definitely worth the read.
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A real page turner! The ripped-from-the-headlines subject matter and differing POVs reminded me of Jodi Picoult - in a good way.
Aug 27, 2010
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Aug 27, 2010
Lainey
marked it as to-read
Dec 07, 2012
Meg
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2014
Kate
marked it as to-read
Jul 08, 2019
Cindy
marked it as to-read
Aug 08, 2019
Kate
marked it as to-read
