I recently read: Come Home by Lisa Scottoline.
I'm usually (more) intrigued and interested in reading a novel that has a wide range of ratings/reviews and that was certainly the case with this book.
The story's main character: Jill Farrow is a pediatrician. She is middle-aged, divorced and starting a new life with Sam, the man she is living with and plans to marry. She is also the mother of Megan, who is thirteen and former step-mom to Abby and Victoria.
From the Amazon product page:
Jill Farrow is a typical suburban mom who has finally gotten her and her
daughter's lives back on track after a divorce. She is about to remarry, her job
as a pediatrician fulfills her---though it is stressful---and her daughter,
Megan, is a happily over-scheduled thirteen-year-old juggling homework and the
swim team.
But Jill’s life is turned upside down when her ex-stepdaughter, Abby, shows
up on her doorstep late one night and delivers shocking news: Jill’s ex-husband
is dead. Abby insists that he was murdered and pleads with Jill to help find his
killer. Jill reluctantly agrees to make a few inquiries and discovers that
things don’t add up. As she digs deeper, her actions threaten to rip apart her
new family, destroy their hard-earned happiness, and even endanger her own life.
Yet Jill can’t turn her back on a child she loves and once called her own.
Come Home reads with the breakneck pacing of a thriller while also
exploring the definition of motherhood, asking the questions: Do you ever stop
being a mother? Can you ever have an ex-child? What are the limits to love of
family?
On the plus side:
The story has some unexpected twists and turns. Jill attempts to help step-daughter Abby find out what happened to her ex-husband/Abby's father, who Abby is convinced, was murdered, in spite of everyone else's thoughts to the contrary that he accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs. The more that Jill looks into the events that led up to her ex's recent death, the more she agrees with Abby's beliefs that this actually was a murder.
The pace of this book is ultra-fast with well-defined characters.
The story of a family, an "ex" family brought together again in crisis and a murder mystery, all combined.
The story of a family, an "ex" family brought together again in crisis and a murder mystery, all combined.
And a couple of things that didn't ring true for me.
Not to spoil the story, but at one point Jill is ready to hand over highly incriminating evidence to someone who could definitely be one of the "bad guys". This was not believable at a point in the story when there are numerous suspects still to consider.
Also, on more than one occasion she is talking on her hand-held cell phone when driving. Again, this didn't ring true for me. Would a doctor do something this stupid after what they see in hospitals as the result of people using phones when driving? I think not.
If you're a fan of Lisa Scottoline's work (and she certainly has plenty of loyal fans) you'll probably want to read this book and decide for yourself.
I enjoyed the story but I think it could have been more engaging and believable, with a few tweaks to the plot.
Overall rating for this book: Good. 3 out of 5.
