Review: Come Home by Lisa Scottoline (audio)

Come Home by Lisa Scottoline

Narrated by Maggie-Meg Reed

MacMillan Audio

2012

Length: 12 hours, 25 minutes

Source: Library

Lisa Scottoline has delivered taut thrillers with a powerful emotional wallop in her New York Times bestsellers Save Me, Think Twice, and Look Again. Now, with her new novel, Come Home, she ratchets up the suspense with the riveting story of a mother who sacrifices her future for a child from her past.
 

Jill
Farrow is a typical suburban mom who has finally gotten her and her
daughter’s lives back on track after a divorce. She is about to remarry,
her job as a pediatrician fulfills her—though it is stressful—and
her daughter, Megan, is a happily over-scheduled thirteen-year-old
juggling homework and the swim team.

But Jill’s life is turned
upside down when her ex-stepdaughter, Abby, shows up on her doorstep
late one night and delivers shocking news: Jill’s ex-husband is dead.
Abby insists that he was murdered and pleads with Jill to help find his
killer. Jill reluctantly agrees to make a few inquiries and discovers
that things don’t add up. As she digs deeper, her actions threaten to
rip apart her new family, destroy their hard-earned happiness, and even
endanger her own life. Yet Jill can’t turn her back on a child she loves
and once called her own.

Come Home reads with the
breakneck pacing of a thriller while also exploring the definition of
motherhood, asking the questions: Do you ever stop being a mother? Can
you ever have an ex-child? What are the limits to love of family?

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by Lisa Scottoline and I think I will definitely be looking into reading more of her books. I love that I keep finding more authors to read…but it also means that me tbr list keeps growing at a faster rate than I can read…at least audio helps me get more books finished!

Come
Home is a suspense-filled story that combines the tension of a thriller with the
unbreakable ties of family. It definitely tugs at your emotions, leaving you wondering what you would do if you found yourself in Jill’s position. Do you ever stop being a mother to your step-kids even if you divorce their dad? As Jill gets wrapped up in trying to figure out exactly what happened to her ex, she finds herself pulled in many different directions – there’s the obligation she has to Sam, her fiance; there’s Megan, her daughter; and then there’s Abby and Victoria, her step-daughters. Can she be all they need her to be, while still remaining true to herself?

I loved the emotions and the tension that exist in this book. At times, it’s so palpable that you just don’t want to stop reading or listening. As I had this audio on my iPod, I found myself taking longer walks just so I could hear more. Lisa Scottoline raises some good questions in this book – questions about what constitutes a family, and about knowing what lengths you would go to for someone you love.  

I enjoy reading books that cover more that one genre and this one seems to fit the bill. What about you? Do you like when books combine genres, or do you prefer them to stick to one or the other? Any favorites to share?

Audio Thoughts:
I really enjoy listening to Maggie-Meg Reed narrate. She does an amazing job of creating unique voices for the characters in the book – all with their own personality. In this case, she does Jill’s teenage daughter quite well – the whiny, annoying all-about-me persona that totally fits the character! I don’t know if Maggie-Meg Reed narrates all of Lisa Scottoline’s books, but I would be quite happy if she does.

*** Devourer of Books
hosts Sound Bytes every Friday – a meme to share the audio books that
everyone is listening to. Stop by and you just might find your next
audio book!