Category Archives: Laura Lippman

July 2, 2021 · 12:01 am

Review: Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

Title: Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Following up on her acclaimed and wildly successful New York Times bestseller Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman returns with a dark, complex tale of psychological suspense with echoes of Misery involving a novelist, incapacitated by injury, who is plagued by mysterious phone calls.

In the end, has anyone really led a blameless life?

Injured in a freak fall, novelist Gerry Andersen is confined to a hospital bed in his glamorous high-rise apartment, dependent on two women he barely knows: his incurious young assistant, and a dull, slow-witted night nurse.

Then late one night, the phone rings. The caller claims to be the “real” Aubrey, the alluring title character from his most successful novel, Dream Girl. But there is no real Aubrey. She’s a figment born of a writer’s imagination, despite what many believe or claim to know. Could the cryptic caller be one of his three ex-wives playing a vindictive trick after all these years? Or is she Margot, an ex-girlfriend who keeps trying to insinuate her way back into Gerry’s life?

And why does no one believe that the call even happened?

Isolated from the world, drowsy from medication, Gerry slips between reality and a dreamlike state in which he is haunted by his own past: his faithless father, his devoted mother; the women who loved him, the women he loved.

And now here is Aubrey, threatening to visit him, suggesting that she is owed something. Is the threat real or is it a sign of dementia? Which scenario would he prefer? Gerry has never been so alone, so confused – and so terrified.

Chilling and compulsively readable, touching on timely issues that include power, agency, appropriation, and creation, Dream Girl is a superb blend of psychological suspense and horror that reveals the mind and soul of a writer.

Review:

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman is a fascinating mystery with an intriguing premise.

Sixty-one-year-old novelist Gerry Andersen is injured and confined to bed after an accidental fall. Instead of going to a rehab clinic, he returns home, hires a night nurse and relies on his assistant during the day. Gerry is in a bit of a prescription drug fog so he now has the perfect excuse for not working on his next novel. But when he begins receiving odd phone calls at night from someone claiming to be Aubrey, the heroine from his most famous novel, Gerry begins to feel like he is losing his mind. And then there’s the dead body he sees upon waking one morning…

With so much free time on his hands, Gerry has plenty of time to think back over his life. He laments over some of his decisions and he reflects back on his childhood. Gerry is regretful about a few of choices and wishes he had done other things differently. He is dismayed when his former girlfriend, Margot, shows up but he manages to send her on her way. After she is gone, Gerry wonders what secret she thinks she knows about him but he quickly dismisses her from his thoughts. But she eventually becomes someone Gerry finds someone impossible to forget.

Dream Girl is a quirky mystery that weaves back and forth in time. Gerry is quite a character whose inner musings are politically incorrect and display a lack of self-awareness. The storyline meanders for a while, but around the halfway point, the pacing picks up. With stunning twists and sly turns, Laura Lippman brings this suspenseful mystery to a shocking conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Dream Girl, Laura Lippman, Mystery, Rated B, Review, William Morrow

July 21, 2019 · 11:58 pm

Review: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

Title: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Historical (60s), Mystery, Suspense
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: C

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young black woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie—and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

Review:

Set in Baltimore in the mid 1960s, Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman is an intriguing mystery with an unusual premise.

Madeline “Maddy” Schwartz is a dissatisfied wife who abruptly decides to leave her marriage. Moving into a shabby apartment, she is disappointed her teenage son does not want to live with her.  With little financial help from her soon to be ex-husband, Maddy rather creatively devises ways to fund her new life. After discovering the body of murdered eleven year old Tessie Fine, Maddy sets her sights on a career as a reporter at the Star. Starting at the bottom, she begins investigating the death of Cleo Sherwood, a young black woman.  With the detectives little interested in pursuing the case and the media ignoring the death, Maddy is certain finding out what happened to Theo will finally convince the newspaper to promote her to reporter.

Maddy is not exactly the most sympathetic or likable character. She is impetuous and ambitious and she rarely thinks about how her decisions will affect those around her.  One of Maddy’s best qualities is her lack of prejudice and although she is investigating Theo’s death for her gain, she is truly upset by the lack of interest by the police and the media.  Unfortunately Maddy is only concerned about her own future and some of her decisions lead to unintended consequences for the people in her life.

While Maddy is the main narrator, many of the chapters are written from secondary characters’ perspectives.  Chapters from Cleo’s ghost are often acerbic and disdainful of Maddy’s efforts to uncover the truth about her death. These entries are quite interesting and add to the suspense surrounding her death. The other chapters are short vignettes from very minor characters and these entries add very little to the story.

Lady in the Lake is a very unique mystery but the pacing is slow and many of the characters are not easy to like.  Laura Lippman brings the time period vibrantly to life and she deftly tackles racism, classism and sexism with sensitivity.  With plenty of suspense surrounding Theo’s disappearance and young Tessie’s murder, the novel comes to a very unexpected, twist-filled conclusion.

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Filed under Historical, Historical (60s), Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman, Mystery, Review, Suspense, William Morrow

February 18, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: Sunburn by Laura Lippman

Title: Sunburn by Laura Lippman
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a superb novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck: two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayals—and cold-blooded murder.

One is playing a long game. But which one?

They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he’s also passing through. Yet she stays and he stays—drawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other—dangerous, even lethal, secrets.

Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each other’s lives and lies that neither one knows how to get away—or even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?

Something—or someone—has to give.

Which one will it be?

Inspired by James M. Cain’s masterpieces The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, Sunburn is a tantalizing modern noir from the incomparable Laura Lippman.

Review:

A very atmospheric novel, Sunburn by Laura Lippman is an intriguing mystery that unfolds at a leisurely pace.

After walking out on her husband, Polly Costello meets Adam Bosk at the High-Ho diner/bar in Belleville, DE. Neither is planning on staying in town for long, but after meeting one another, they each decide to town for the time being. Polly is hired as a waitress at the High-Ho but she only plans on staying until she builds up a nest egg before moving on.  Adam is hired temporarily as a cook at the High-Ho and he continues trying to inveigle his way into Polly’s life.  Neither of them are forthcoming about how or why they ended up in Belleville and in fact, Adam knows more about Polly than he lets on.  Over the next several months, Adam and Polly’s relationship deepens beyond co-workers but will Polly’s very colorful past prevent them from building a future together?

Polly is charming and sexy but she is also quite reserved and maintains an emotional distance from everyone in her life. She easily walks away from her present life and she does not offer anyone an explanation for her actions. She is somewhat mysterious and less than forthcoming with the new people she meets in Belleville but she is surprisingly popular with the customers at the High-Ho. Polly does not make female friends which makes for a distant but mostly cordial relationship with Cath, who also works at the High-Ho.

Adam has good reasons for cozying up to Polly and he remains quite vague when anyone asks him personal questions about his life. He is quite fascinated with Polly but he knows he should  not become too close to her.  Before long, Adam’s interest in her has crossed from professional to romantic, but he convinces himself he can maintain his objectivity. But is Adam fooling himself with his assertions that his feelings for her won’t interfere with his real reasons for being in Belleville?

Sunburn is a character-driven, multi-layered novel. Polly definitely has an interesting back story, but she is sometimes hard to like or feel sympathetic towards when the truth about her past comes to light. Adam is an experienced professional but he greatly underestimates how deeply Polly will affect him. Laura Lippman’s  slow parceling of information about Polly’s past culminates with a dramatic confrontation. The novel comes to an unexpected conclusion that is rather poignant. Film buffs will especially appreciate the nod to some classic noir movies from the 40s and 50s.

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Filed under Contemporary, Laura Lippman, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Sunburn, Suspense, William Morrow