When Eliza was 15, she was kidnapped and held hostage for six weeks. Nearly 15 years later, an adult in a happy marriage and with children of her own, she receives a letter from someone on her kidnapper's behalf. He wants to get in touch with her.
Eliza is forced out of her comfortable life and must face up to the events of that summer, which she has done her best to forget. Initially, it seems that Walter Bowman wants forgiveness, but he continues to press for further communication and his manipulative abilities have been refined by his years on death row.
Eliza has always wondered why he let her live, and although he was convicted of the murder of only one young girl, he appears to offering information about others murders of which he was suspected.
The novel is one of psychological manipulation, and Eliza must confront past events, clarify them in her own mind, and make decisions.
Lippman's narrative moves back and forth from present to past skillfully. An engrossing novel.
(Another December read )
other reviews: Kay's Random Acts of Reading.
Fiction. Psychological Suspense. 2010. 370 pages.
Sounds like an interesting, but creepy, book. I love psychological thrillers. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteLisa - Strangely (and in a good way), the book is not nearly as creepy as it sounds. Lippman didn't dwell on the damage excessively, she concentrated on how far Eliza has come and how she deals with the communications from her kidnapper.
ReplyDeleteIt surprised me because I was expecting much more creepy and found it much more interesting because of the way Lippman developed the story.
I read this one back in September and found it very compelling. It was definitely more than a "simple" crime story. Had a lot of thoughtful points and psychological suspense.
ReplyDeleteThat is probably where I saw the review, Kay! Adding a link to your review now.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting premise for the novel. I think I've read only one book by Lippman but it was from her series and wasn't totally won over but I'd certainly like to try her standalones. Seems she's gotten a lot of praise for them.
ReplyDeleteI liked this one, but don't think I've read anything else by her. This one was interesting without being gruesome.
ReplyDeleteI listened to a Lippman novel a while back and enjoyed it. She makes for good audiobook listening! I'm glad you enjoyed this one.
ReplyDeleteOoh, this sounds good!! I have yet to read any of Lippman's work but I intend to remedy that soon.
ReplyDeleteDorothy - I'm certainly going to give her another try. An audio book would be a good choice next time!
ReplyDeleteSuziQ - I enjoyed this one, but according to Iliana, there may be a difference between her stand alones and her series.
I've suggested this (and other Lippman book - can't remember which) to my book club but they didn't take me up on the suggestion. Perhaps I should actually read it so I can give it a more enthusiastic endorsement.
ReplyDeleteI found this one much more interesting and thought-provoking that I expected. After Ilian's comment about her series, I looked up some of Lippman's books and realized that at some point, I had read one of the Tess Monaghan series, and evidently wasn't much impressed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did like this one and its curious examination of Eliza's ability to later establish a loving family.
I'm looking forward to eventually reading this one. I just packed my copy away so it may be awhile. :-(
ReplyDeleteLF - Ah, well, as long as you have your copy, you can get to it when you've completed the move and settled in!
ReplyDelete