A Foot in the Door

I have been slack I admit and I apologise to my tiny but intensely loyal following for my literary failings.
I intend to do MUCH better from now on but in the meantime here is a review to keep things ticking along.

It also appears (rather excitingly)here:

http://www.killerreads.com/reviews/what-you-thought-of-dont-look-back-by-laura-lippman/#more-1908

There may be some more over there soon, apparently they like me a little bit. So that's nice.
See how cool I'm playing it over the whole "kind of published on a real website, by a real publisher" thing?
Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and find a quiet spot where I can bounce up and down like Tigger without attracting attention........

Don't Look back by Laura Lippman

The year that Elizabeth Lerner was 15, a chance encounter with a spree killer named Walter Bowman irrevocably altered the course of her young life
Kidnapped and held by Bowman for 39 days she has always believed herself to be the sole witness to his final murder , that of 14 year old Holly Tackett …….but was the truth really as straightforward as it appeared?
Twenty years on, and determined not to be defined by her past, Elizabeth is now Eliza Benedict, happily married, devoted to her two children and living the suburban dream.
Although Walter Bowman was tried and convicted for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth it was Holly’s murder, which occurred across the state lines in Virginia that put him on Death Row where he has been languishing ever since.
But now his time is rapidly running out and the only person who can save him from the ultimate punishment for his crimes is Eliza.

Having survived her time with Bowman, where others before and after did not, Eliza has always known that she was considered the “lucky one”.
But luck is always relative and the last thing Eliza feels is lucky when Walter Bowman tracks her down with the help of a press clipping and a sympathetic associate. “I’d know you anywhere” says his note, and he is not referring to her face.
Eliza knows that she survived the 1985 kidnapping due to her compliant and biddable nature, a nature that Bowman now has every intention of manipulating to his advantage in his final bid for life.

In “Don’t Look Back” Laura Lippman has crafted a sensitive and thought provoking novel with fully developed protagonists and a strong supporting cast.
Alternating between 1985 - the year Elizabeth/Eliza was taken - and the present day, she develops her characters into fully rounded human beings complete with all the flaws, complexities and insecurities that that entails.
They are not always likeable but they are honest and believable and their dialogue flows so naturally that the reader quickly develops a strong sense of affinity.

Although this book deals with some weighty issues, not least of which is the motivations of those who campaign so passionately both for and against the death penalty, it never becomes maudlin or bogged down in morality.
The facts and ambiguities are presented and ultimately the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.

In conclusion “Don’t Look Back” shows an emotional intelligence that sets it apart and makes it a true killer read!