Available:*
Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607002826330 | Adult Fiction | LAPLANT | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
* An Indie Next Pick
* A LibraryReads Selection
* An Amazon Best Book of the Month (Mysteries & Thrillers)
* A Daily Candy Best Book of March
* One of More Magazine's "Five Thrillers Not to Read After Dark"
When Dr. John Taylor turns up dead in a hotel room, the local police uncover enough incriminating evidence to suspect foul play. Detective Samantha Adams, whose Palo Alto beat usually covers petty crimes, is innocently thrown into a high-profile case that is more complicated than any she has faced before. A renowned reconstructive surgeon and a respected family man, Dr. Taylor was beloved and admired. But beneath his perfect façade was a hidden life--in fact, multiple lives. Dr. Taylor was married to three very different women in three separate cities. As the circumstances surrounding his death emerge, Detective Adams finds herself tracking down a murderer through a tangled web of marital deception and revenge. New York Times bestselling author Alice LaPlante's haunting and complex novel of family secrets dissects--with scalpel-like agility--the intricacies of desire and commitment, trust and jealousy.
Author Notes
Alice LaPlante is an award-winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction. She teaches creative writing at Stanford University, where she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer. She also teaches in the MFA program at San Francisco State University. Her fiction has been widely published in Epoch , Southwestern Review , and other literary journals. Alice is the author of six books, including the LA Times bestseller Method and Madness: The Making of a Story (W.W. Norton 2009). Her first novel, Turn of Mind , was a New York Times , NPR, and American Independent Booksellers Association bestseller, won the Wellcome Trust Book Prize, was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, and was named a New York Times and Booklist Editors' Choice and a #1 IndieNextPick. She lives with her family in Northern California. Author website: alicelaplante.com
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The murder of prominent Stanford plastic surgeon John Taylor jolts the career of Samantha Adams, an inexperienced Palo Alto, Calif., police detective, in LaPlante's engrossing second thriller (after 2011's Turn of Mind). The charismatic, well-respected doctor, who specialized in reconstructive surgery for needy children, had a damning secret: he kept three wives, Deborah, MJ, and Helen, in different cities. The investigation affects commitment-phobe Sam's own relationship with nice-but-bland Peter, as she becomes fascinated with the question of why these very different women found John appealing. Told in the alternating voices of Sam, Deborah, MJ, and Helen, the novel explores love, loss, control, the influence of past relationships, and passion. The multi-narrator approach may strike some as choppy at first, but LaPlante quickly settles into a captivating rhythm. She paints a sympathetic picture of the enigmatic John while channeling the women's voices to explore how their separate stories converged on him. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
On the surface LaPlante's second novel (after the acclaimed Turn of Mind) is a straightforward mystery. A respected plastic surgeon, Dr. John Taylor, is found dead in his hotel room in Palo Alto, CA. Det. Samantha Adams is assigned the case, and though her hometown rarely sees a murder, she's determined to solve the case. Sam discovers that Taylor was leading a complicated personal life, one that involved three wives, Deborah, M.J., and Helen, all of whom become suspects in his murder. Each of the women knew a different version of the man. Sam must find out which life was the one that got him killed. -VERDICT Though a murder mystery serves as the backdrop to LaPlante's tale, her characters tell the story. The narration alternates from chapter to chapter and from woman to woman. An investigation of a crime becomes an exploration of the choices these women made and the resulting impact. Fans of character-driven puzzles will find much to like in this psychological novel. [See Prepub Alert, 10/20/13; 12-city tour; library marketing.]-Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.