“Look Again” by Lisa Scottoline Good beach read
I pick up Lisa Scottoliine’s latest book, “Look Again” because it was a stand-alone and NOT a lawyer-courtroom mystery. I got sort of burned out on those a long time ago. Too much Grisham?
The premise was interesting. Ellen Gleeson, a reporter and single mother of an adopted boy, sees one of those “Have you seen this child” post cards and is immediately shocked to see how much the missing kid looks like her own son. Most people would shrug and thow the damn thing out. Not Ellen. She almost goes out of her way to prove her son is the missing kid! She did a story on him while he was in the hospital, very sick, and gettting heart surgery. You’d think she’d got out of her way to protect him and keep him safe. Nope. She neglects her job, puts herself and her child in danger as she runs all over town looking for clues. Why? Because it was the right thing to do! Hmmmmm.
I read this book in a day and it was … just okay. Ellen professes such love for her son, but … he has a full time babysitter and sends him to pre-school. This is parenting? I didn’t believe most of the characters – they were pretty stock. And, it obvious right off the bat what’s going to happen. The ending felt very rushed and was beyond sappy. I found myself skipping a lot toward the end of the book.
I did have a major problem with the character of Ellen. She’s supposed to be a feature writer for a major Philadelphia newspapers – but, she owns a home in a nice neighborhood, she paid over $40,000 for a private adoption, she paid off the kids hospital bills, she has him in pre-school and has a full time baby sitter. Where on EARTH did she get all that money! Hey, I’ve worked for newspapers – they do not pay big bucks, believe me. That part didn’t make sense.
Also, when people involved with the adoption of her son keep dying – it never occurs to this investigative reporter that the the deaths may be murders. The whole plot was very easy to figure out – the clues short of jumped off the page and screamed at me, but if you like mommy-kid books this one wasn’t terrible. I just hope Scottoline writes better lawyer-mystery books. I’ll try one and let you know.
Pick up a copy of my latest book Call Sign: Love, a romance, now available at www.writewordsinc.com
