It's the summer of
1979, and a dry, hot, northern California school vacation stretches
ahead for Rachel and her younger sister Patty-the daughters a
larger-than-life, irresistibly handsome and chronically unfaithful
detective father who loves to make women happy, and the mother whose
heart he broke.
Left to their own devices, the inseparable sisters spend their days studying record jackets, concocting elaborate fantasies about the life of the mysterious neighbor who moves in down the street, and playing dangerous games on the mountain that rises up behind their house.
When young women start showing up dead on the mountain, the girls' father is charged with finding the man responsible, known as The Sunset Strangler. Seeing her father's life slowly unravel when he fails to stop the murders, Rachel embarks on her most dangerous game yet: setting herself up as bait to catch the killer, with consequences that will destroy her father's career and alter the lives of everyone she loves.
It is not until thirty years later that Rachel, who has never given up hope of vindicating her father, finally smokes out the killer, bringing her back to the territory of her childhood, and uncovering a long-buried family secret.
Left to their own devices, the inseparable sisters spend their days studying record jackets, concocting elaborate fantasies about the life of the mysterious neighbor who moves in down the street, and playing dangerous games on the mountain that rises up behind their house.
When young women start showing up dead on the mountain, the girls' father is charged with finding the man responsible, known as The Sunset Strangler. Seeing her father's life slowly unravel when he fails to stop the murders, Rachel embarks on her most dangerous game yet: setting herself up as bait to catch the killer, with consequences that will destroy her father's career and alter the lives of everyone she loves.
It is not until thirty years later that Rachel, who has never given up hope of vindicating her father, finally smokes out the killer, bringing her back to the territory of her childhood, and uncovering a long-buried family secret.
At first when I read the back cover about what the book was supposed to
be about I was already questioning the idea of the story…“was it going
to be a hard story to follow?”; “was I going to get confused pretty
quick as to which character I’m reading about?” and so on and so on. As I
started reading the first chapter I was instantly drawn into the story.
The way Joyce Maynard wrote the story made it feel like I was there and
like I was the character writing about where I lived and what was going
on during that time. By the middle of the book I was really engrossed
in the story and was getting antsy to get to the next sentence. I was
even on edge to learn what would happen next; I had to stop myself from
reading the last two to three pages of the story just so I wouldn’t ruin the
ending for myself. I really enjoyed reading this story and I was a
little sad when I finished it because I was wanting more of the story
although there was much else that could be told.
I love how the author
Joyce Maynard wrote the story; she made it very easy to follow and I
liked how she didn’t number the chapters. I feel that by not numbering
the chapters the reader would feel like he/she were
living the story instead of merely reading about it. I think men and
women would love this book; I feel like it was a real page turner and
that it was a great suspenseful book. Overall I give this book and the
author an “A+.”
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Tiffany
Now this does sound like a really great read.
ReplyDelete