Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8318 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-14
• Released on: 2009-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780312380724
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Scottoline (Lady Killer) scores another bull's-eye with this terrifying thriller about an adoptive parent's worst fear—the threat of an undisclosed illegality overturning an adoption. The age-progressed picture of an abducted Florida boy, Timothy Braverman, on a have you seen this child? flyer looks alarmingly like Philadelphia journalist Ellen Gleeson's three-year-old son, Will, whom she adopted after working on a feature about a pediatric cardiac care unit. Ellen, who jeopardizes her newspaper job by secretly researching the Braverman case, becomes suspicious when she discovers the lawyer who handled her adoption of Will has committed suicide. Meanwhile, Will's supposed birth mother, Amy Martin, dies of a heroin overdose, and Amy's old boyfriend turns out to look like the man who kidnapped Timothy. Scottoline expertly ratchets up the tension as the desperate Ellen flies to Miami to get DNA samples from Timothy's biological parents. More shocks await her back home. Author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Ellen Gleeson was balancing life as a single mother and a feature reporter as well as could be expected. She had taken on single parenthood voluntarily, having fallen in love with her adopted son, Will, now three, when he was a very sick infant. A have-you-seen-this-child postcard featuring a child who could be Will’s twin catches Ellen’s attention, and while she should be pursuing her assigned story about the emotional effect of Philadelphia’s high teenage murder rate, she instead becomes obsessed with the missing child and with pursuing more details about Will’s background. Her questions multiply when she learns that, just three weeks after she adopted Will, the attorney who handled the proceedings killed herself. Where is the birth mother, and why doesn’t her family seem to know that she was pregnant? The answer only leads to danger, but Ellen, her reporter’s instincts on high alert, is hell-bent on finding the truth, no matter the cost. In a departure from her wildly popular Rosato & Associates series, Scottoline still sticks to what she knows in this taut stand-alone: female drama, family ties, legal intrigue, and fast-paced action. A sure-fire winner. --Mary Frances Wilkens

Review

Customer Reviews

Tension Yes, but the Story Falls a bit Flat
This story opens when Philadelphia newspaper reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a flyer asking "Have You Seen this Child," a kidnapped victim named Timothy Braverman. The photo looks enough like her adopted son Will to be his twin, worse it could be Will. But that can't be, she'd legally adopted him when the boy's mother had abandoned him at a hospital with a congenital heart problem. She'd been there through thick and thin with Will, paid off his medical bills, loved him like only a mother could.

But she has to know, so she investigates and almost looses her job because of it, because she misses a deadline. Right away she finds that the lawyer who brokered the adoption is dead. The boys mother, Amy Martin too commits suicide and Ellen begins to suspect that maybe Will and Tim are one and the same and we (the readers) begin to suspect Amy's boyfriend is the kidnapper.

Though she'd adopted Will fair and square, if he is the kidnapped Braverman boy, she'll have to give him to his biological parents and this she doesn't want to do, not until she finds out more. So she investigates and causes more death and chaos. I kind of liked this book and I wanted to like it more, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why Ellen didn't call the biological parent's straightaway.

If Will was Timothy Braverman they could have worked something out, maybe shared custody, but instead she goes off like a loose canon, which had me mentally smacking myself upside the head every time Ellen got herself in more trouble or whenever something bad happened. Though there is a fair amount of tension, the story just didn't make enough sense for me.

Better than most, but not vintage quality
As a devoted Scottoline fan, I was hoping to see more of Mary, Judy and Benny. But I'm willing to try something new. This book was like catching a visit with an old friend who's out of her element. We wanted to visit her at home but, hey, it's better than nothing.

As others have noted, the plot seems implausible and the ending fairly predictable. We know Scottoline's lawyer trio tends to be reckless and adventurous. But it's not clear why this reporter didn't just take her lawyer's advice. She had no legal obligation to get involved. Her interference cost the lives of two people. The romantic story just didn't seem plausible or compelling.

On the plus side, we get an inside view of the newsroom and the adoption process. Scottoline still writes better than about 70% of the other mystery writers. She includes her trademark "girl talk" excerpts and the trademark cat. (In some of the books we get a golden retriever instead. But cats get featured a lot.)

I also liked the way Ellen's father was shown as a vital,energetic senior citizen. So many books show a heroine hovering over an aging parent, reminding him or her to take drugs and naps. This guy was living!

The problem is that a lot of authors can write about adoption, families, journalism, romance and parenting. Scottoline can write about women lawyers better than just about anyone. So when she writes about journalism, I keep thinking about what might have been.

Maybe next year...

(3.5 stars) Baby Mama Drama


Most people throw away fliers that say "Have you seen this child?" Features writer Ellen Gleeson doesn't- she stares at the image of Timothy Braverman wondering if her adopted son has a twin. As a reporter, it is in Ellen's DNA to question, so it isn't remarkable that the picture of the child continues to trouble her. And even though her newspaper is instigating cutbacks as a response to hard economic realities, Ellen remains obsessed with the face of the missing child. Juggling a jealous coworker, an intriguing boss who looks like Antonio Banderas and an important newspaper deadline, Ellen finds it impossible to turn away from the fear that has invaded every aspect of her life. As wound up and anxious as an overly-stimulated three-year-old, Ellen spends her off hours researching her adoption and tracking persons involved. No matter the answer, Ellen can't stop asking the questions.

"Ellen spent the afternoon in Quality Time Frenzy." Whatever else, Scottoline can write circles around her contemporaries on the pandemonium created by small children. Much of the energy in the book is frantic, at least a third of the books eighty-one chapters devoted to Ellen's interaction with her son. Whether it's a screaming tantrum or a mother-son conversation, Will literally jumps off the page (he has the right name). I desperately wanted this kid to take a long nap. A nap wouldn't have hurt his mother, either. In the context of the story, I found this hopping from intimate child care to serious issues disconcerting. Add in Ellen's crush on her boss and the story gets a bit off balance. I don't know when to be anxious or amused. Then there are the throwaway lines, like, "Time to start stalking."

The thriller is energetic and entertaining, but the uneven emotional tenor keeps the reader off balance until Ellen finally faces the wrong end of a loaded gun, a criminal's plan gone awry. If you are a fan of James Patterson, this novel will please; for anyone wanting more nuanced treatment of character and plot, this author's flashy prose and impulsive quips may not satisfy. Scottoline has an impressive list of thrillers and a loyal fan base. Look Again, for all its scattered energy is a tale of an adoptive mother's worst nightmare come true, morphing into a particular threat with lots of mama-drama. New mother Ellen Gleeson is faced with an uncommon dilemma. At least she has an Antonio Banderas look-alike for comfort. Luan Gaines/2009.