A grippingly suspenseful story that is current with our technological means of communication and ready acceptance of digital sexting.
LYING WITH STRANGERS
James Grippando
Synopsis (Source: Book Browse)
Peyton Shields had always wanted to be a doctor, and now, thanks to her relentless drive, stellar academic credentials, and a mountain of debt to Harvard Medical School, she’s a first-year resident at a major Boston children’s hospital. The hours are impossibly long, but it’s the life she wants, complete with a husband who’s an up-and-coming young lawyer. But a late-night drive home in a heavy snowstorm changes everything. A car coming straight at her forces her off the road and into a frozen pond. Peyton knows she’d be dead if a stranger hadn’t pulled her from the wreckage before vanishing into the darkness.
In an instant, her wonderful life has turned dark. No one believes her claims that the “accident” was deliberate—not even her husband. Without explanation, he has become distant and bitter, calling her paranoid and accusing her of having an affair with a former lover.
Richard comments
A captivating story which will hold your attention for most of the book and which will have you guessing ‘the butler did it; then he may not have done it; ah, but the butler did do it; hmm maybe he didn’t.’ And so it goes through much of the book.
The dialogue is credible, the husband and wife interaction believable. Even the lawyer team, another husband and wife, has believable competition between the two.
Grippando spends serious time developing his story and writing dialogue appropriate to the gender and his/her way of thinking. That last point is not just my view but based on the author’s acknowledgements and consultancies.
Though the book lags with the drawn-out court trial, one can see it would be an injustice to readers to curtail the story’s development and the bubbling cauldron of interpersonal relationships which he develops during the trial and during the investigation of the crime.
The twist at the end is a real surprise if one lets themselves fall deeply into the narrative pool of the story but it is logical and believable.
Summary
A very entertaining diversion but still should be assigned to the light reading shelf.
