TEST
I love books based upon what I call Ordinary Evil that begins with an event that can happen to anyone. A car accident. An unwanted pregnancy. A child picking up something they shouldn’t. It is what happens after that takes these ordinary instances – accidents typically, mild carelessness at worst – into devastating crime. And the best part? It is normally a slow buildup, a character doing things out of character until suddenly, they aren’t even who they thought they were anymore. Live to Tell is just such a book, eerily combining the everyday with the horrific, making the tale all that more chilling in the telling.
Lauren Walsh thought she had a fairy tale life. A house in the suburbs. Three beautiful, healthy kids. A loving husband. But that dream is shattered when her husband leaves her for another woman and forces her to pick up the pieces that remain of herself and her three children. Mostly, she is a hermit, hiding within the walls of her restored Victorian with her little daughter Sadie while her older two kids enjoy life at summer camp. But at her sister’s insistence she heads up to the City, spending a long day in New York. When little Sadie realizes her beloved pink bunny Fred has been left behind, all hell breaks lose. Lauren tries to reassure her, but the loss of her father (who almost never visits) has made Sadie more than a little dependent on Fred. Lauren sees no alternative but to call her ex-husband Nick, who works in New York, to search the lost and found at Grand Central Station – Fred’s last known whereabouts. Nick’s actions in response to this simple request – and his subsequent disappearance – set in motion a chain of events that will change Lauren’s life and that of everyone around her in ways they could never have imagined.
The problem with a well plotted mystery – and this one is definitely that – is that everything you need to solve it is right there almost from the beginning. For that reason, I don’t want to give much more information on the actual plot than I have listed above. But I can talk about the characters, and they were wonderful.
Lauren is depressed and fragile. She never wanted to be a single mother, raising her kids essentially on her own, and she isn’t afraid to wallow in that bitterness a bit. She is good about not running Nick down to his kids but in her internal life she is angry. I liked that. While I felt it went on a bit too long it made the book feel very real. The great thing about Lauren is she didn’t want the job but she is dealing with having it. She is working on making a new life for herself and her family.
The three kids were great too. Lucy, the eldest daughter, displays all the selfishness of a typical teenage girl, distressed about the problems in her family but anxious too to get on with her own life. She had a nice balance of bossy older sibling, know-it-all teen, and maturing young woman. Ryan, the middle child and only boy, was easily my favorite. He had a great heart hidden behind the punky, surly exterior typical of boys his age. What made him stand out was the how he was trying to find his own way through the mine field that the divorce had left him in. It was agonizing but realistic to watch him try to establish a relationship with his dad and work to make sure his friendships stayed intact.
Sadie is the character upon whom much of the plot turns. I struggled with her. She was very real, and that made her as difficult as any living four year old going through a trauma. She was often bratty, then by turns surly and demanding. It is these characteristics that move the plot along but it is also these characteristics that make it difficult to spend time with her.
The villain was a bit over the top, but the rest of the supporting cast was pretty amazing. Nick, as a protagonist, if not villain, does a great job of highlighting how a little selfishness can go a long way. I loved hating him. It is interesting to watch how everyone – friends, neighbors, family members – has advice for Lauren on how to deal with her situation. And how curious everyone is about that situation. It is clear that the Walsh family has become the favorite topic of the gossip mill and watching Lauren and her family deal with that adds depth to the characters and plot.
I found only two flaws in this book. The first was that the initial few chapters moved very slowly. At a snails pace. Like molasses workings its way through Jell-o. More than once I found myself throwing longing looks at other books. And then the book just took off. I was mesmerized and couldn’t put it down, wanting desperately to know what was going to happen to all my favorite characters. The positive side to this is that you really know the characters by the time the action takes place. You have a vested interest in seeing them defeat the evil surrounding them. The negative, of course, is that it takes work to engage with the book. I found it worth that bit of effort.
The second flaw was that the initiating act seemed – dumb. Or odd. Or both. I struggled to understand why two characters set themselves on a road that would lead to heartache at best, and this mess (or something like it) at it’s worst. One of the two of them (you’ll know which one when you read it) should have been smarter.
A small warning. There is some political “stuff” in this book and it might be interpreted as skewering the more right wing party. I most certainly didn’t feel it was doing that, but a more sensitive reader might take it that way. Additionally, in some ways the book came across as anti-abortion. Again, not my interpretation – everything that happened, everything that was chosen in terms of politics, personal decisions, what have you – was done because it had to be that way to move the plot forward. I certainly didn’t feel preached at in any way, shape or form but some are more sensitive than I.
Live to Tell takes the bonds that we all rely on everyday and shows how twisting or breaking them can blow up in our faces. It is an edge of your seat thriller, the type of book that takes off and is hard to put down once it does. A good read for anyone who likes suspense. I will be reading the sequel Scared to Death when it comes out in December.
Grade: B
Book Type: Suspense
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 14/04/10
Publication Date: 2010/02
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.