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SUSPENSE
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OUTSTANDING
BOOK
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Grand Central Station
Photo credit: Dilliff
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BOOK
ILLUMINATIONS
From Merrimon Book Reviews
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Live to Tell
by Wendy Corsi
Staub
Awesome
suspense!
At one time life seemed normal but
Lauren Walsh's divorce changed everything. She can no longer
trust her instincts or the very things she once took for granted.
When her youngest daughter Sadie loses her stuffed animal, Lauren tries
to reassure her, but the loss of her father has made Sadie more than
insistent. When Lauren calls her ex-husband Nick to search the
lost and found at Grand Central Station, she demands he pay attention
to their children's needs. Lauren's actions set in motion a train
of events that will change her life and that of everyone around
her.
When her husband suddenly disappears, Lauren tries to reassure herself
and her children, while not embarrassing herself before former friends
and acquaintances. As Lauren tries to find answers, forces she
knows nothing about gather, endangering her family in ways she never
could have imagined. Outside, a dangerous man will do anything to
preserve the secret he has guarded for years. Will Lauren
discover the truth in enough time? In trying to protect one's
family, how far is one willing to go?
Wendy Corsi Staub's LIVE TO TELL is an awesome work of suspense!
Well-plotted, well-imagined, and rich in emotional and character
details, LIVE TO TELL takes an all too common scenario, divorce, and
twists ideas of family trust and protection into a terrifying
scenario. LIVE TO TELL grabs from the very first pages as the
reader enters Lauren's world. The author captures perfectly
Lauren's distrust and self-questioning following her divorce. The
awkwardness she experiences before others now, trying to appear strong
while she becomes the subject of the gossip mill, at once makes a
reader connect with her while also creating heightened tension as the
reader understands more the stakes. As Lauren's story unfolds,
Wendy Corsi Staub alternates point of view, bringing the reader into
the thoughts of those whose need for secrecy threaten Lauren and her
children. Most chilling of all are those sections when the author
allows the reader a peek into the emotions and thoughts of the youngest
child Sadie. One empathizes with her while, at the same time,
wanting to protect her. Unlike Lauren, the reader knows the
danger approaching but not the reason or all the interconnections until
the very last page. The ending is perfect! Wendy
Corsi Staub brings everything together at the end, yet also leaves the
reader with a bone-chilling line, a line that makes this reader most
anxious to read the next book, SCARED TO DEATH.
LIVE TO TELL satisfies a reader's craving for rich intricate
suspense. LIVE TO TELL is more than a quick action-packed race to
the finish. Each moment brings the reader more and more into
Lauren's world, and the villain's, creating an intensifying, unnerving,
thrilling reading experience. The novel becomes richer and richer
as it progresses with the gradual unveiling of the secret as the clock
counts down. LIVE TO TELL reminds this reader, an avid reader of
suspense, of the power of the genre. LIVE TO TELL is several cuts above
most of the suspense published today. Simply outstanding!
Publisher:
Avon (February 23, 2010)
Author
website
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
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