About this title: From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "True Evil"--acclaimed as one of the most original and entertaining . . . writers to come down the pike in a long time ("The Denver Post")--comes a new big-trouble-in-a-small-town thriller that takes place in the span of a terrifying single day.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: 1ST,
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Date Published: 11/2007
ISBN-13:9780743292504ISBN:0743292502
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 385 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Date Published: 11/2007
ISBN-13:9780743292504ISBN:0743292502
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 385 p. read more
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Great condition paperback book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, some edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Read Once. ((( A GREAT BOOK))) Still looks great. Daily Shipping. Glued binding. 466 p. Audience: General/trade. Topics Adultery; Family secrets; Family violence; Fiction; Mississippi; Physicians' spouses; Suspense; Thrillers read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Fine. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in like new condition, some very minor shelf wear, no rips or tears. _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre...02609213 _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre...02609264 _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre...02609212 _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre...02303873 _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very Good. 1416524541 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre...02504417 _ read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781416524540ISBN:1416524541
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Solid book with clean pgs, book shows almost no shelf, edge & corner wear. Glued binding. 466 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
This is a book I grabbed in an airport because it was "returnable," the idea being that, if I read it, hung on to the receipt, and returned the book to that store or another in the chain, I would be able to get half the purchase price back. Money was tight at the time, so it seemed like a good deal. Of course, I lost the receipt, and can't get my money back.
Still, the book was worth paying full price.
Greg Iles is a new author for me. He tells the tale of Laurel, a specia education teacher in a small town in Mississippi who's in a relationship with a loveless doctor. She has been having an affair with the father of one of her specail needs students, a local pilot also in a loveless marriage who is fiercely devoted to his autistic son. The two have agreed to break off the affair as the novel begins, both realizing that their relationship won't work, and because the lover is fearful of leaving his son in the care of his wife, who doesn't much involve herself in the care of the special needs son.
Then Laurel turns out pregnant. Since she'd ended the affair, she has 'tried to make a go of it' with her husband and has resumed conjugal relations, so she doesn't know if the baby is her husband's or her lover. As she wakes, her husband is frantically searching the house for something.
She goes to work, only to suffer a migraine and go home. When she gets back, Carl, her husband, is still searching the house. The normally mild mannered Carl shocks her by trying her up with duct tape, confronting her with an anonymous note from someone who is not Carl, demanding to know who she is having an affair with. Carl thinks the lover is Kyle, his business partner, and Laurel tries to bluff her way out of the situaion.
Soon she figures out that something else is going on--some sort of criminal conspiracy, likely perpetrated by Kyle, to defraud the government. But Carl is beyond reason, hurt and betrayed by the affair he belives Laurel is having, and will not allow Laurel to explain to him what she thinks is going on.
This situation soon devolves into a hostage situation, made worse by the local police force, who are a mixture of good policemen and of yahhos who want to reenact Rambo movies. They are as big a threat to people's safety as Carl is.
The novel is a good read and a fast paced story. I liked the fact that there are few clear cut 'good guys' and 'bad guys.' Even Carl, initiaully portrayed in a negative light colored by Laurel's anger, then fear, is revealed to be a decent man who has reasons for acting in the seeminglay bizarre way he does.
"From a writer's point of view, I liked this very much because the storyline was different from anything else I've read.
That being said, from a reader's point of view, I'm not sure how I felt about it. There was excitement, absolutely. When the family is held hostage, you can't help but get nervous for the outcome. But I had no sympathy for either the husband Warren or the cheating wife Laurel or for that matter the man she was sleeping with. I hated Laurel, actually, for having the affair and for her deceit in covering up her lies. But, I didn't really like Warren either. He wasn't a good husband or father, and of course, he is the cause of the family's danger.
The ending wasn't exciting, it was predictable. And since I felt no sympathy for any of the characters, I didn't care how it ended anyway."
"This began as an interesting book and stayed interesting up until the end.
Laurel, special-ed teacher and wife of a doctor, lives in wealth and luxury with her husband and two kids. However, the book opens with the fact that Laurel has been having an affair and is pregnant. She does not know if the father is Danny, her paramore, or Warren, her husband. Odds are on Danny. Unfortunately, her affair has ended since Danny can't divorce his wife without losing custody of his kids, including his autistic son.
Laurel leaves school with a migraine and returns home to find Warren still at home which is very unusual. The heart of the novel's action begins there as Warren produces a gun and holds Laurel hostage. He found a love letter signed "Me" from Danny and will not release Laurel until she admits her adultery and tells him who the other man is.
The action picks up again when Laurel's children come home from elementary school. And here's where my problems with the story begin. Laurel had access to a cell phone - she called it her clone phone and it was the phone she used exclusively to communicate with Danny. Most mothers would have done anything in their power to make sure that their children did not become hostages for their gun-wielding and crazed, irrational and delusional father. Using the cell phone may have meant exposing her affair but that would have been a small price to pay for the safety of her kids. She also does not use the cell to call 911 or any other form of help since she doesn't trust the local cops to handle a hostage situation. At this point, Warren has shot at her and assaulted her. Anyone else would have called 911.
Warren's partner Kyle from his medical practice then shows up and Warren is convinced that this is his wife's lover. In fact, Kyle has been involved in medical billing fraud and is being investigated. He came to Warren's house to retrieve some incriminating evidence he had planted there. Warren refuses to release him from the house until his password-cracking program is done and he can access Laurel's email account to see who her lover is. If Kyle is not the other man, then Warren will release him. Kyle, however, needs to leave since the investigators are on their way to close the medical office and arrest him. So, Kyle begins to leave and when challenged by Warren, he produces a gun. At this point, Laurel should see this as a blessing since Warren has terrorized their kids, shot at her, and implied he would kill her in front of them as soon as he found out who she was sleeping with. Beth is also afraid that Warren will kill all of them. But instead of allowing Kyle to shoot her deranged husband, she shouts out a warning to Warren...WHAT??? Warren then shoots and kills Kyle.
At some point after this, their son Grant escapes from the house and flees to the neighbors who then call the police and a hostage standoff begins. The Medicare investigator also shows up and attempts to take over the scene since there are federal charges against Warren and Kyle. He threatens to call in the FBI or SWAT. Despite the bungling ineptitude and lack of experience in handling this type of sitation, the feds are never called in.
Grant, safe at the neighbors, then decides to break back into the house to help his mom and sister. He does this right at the moment that the sharpshooter is set to take Warren out so thae shot is called off. Instead of helping his mom, Grant does a 180 and becomes his father's assistant. When one of the police crew goes rogue and breaks into the house to take Warren out, Warren kills him too which prompts a hug and celebration from Grant.. "You got him Dad!!". WHAT again??? This kid was terrorized and now is high-fiving his dad after his dad killed a cop?
The cops at some point find out that Warren has incureable brain cancer, which no one but him and his doctor know about. Laurel finds out and feels pity and remorse at cheating on him but still she does nothing to help herself out of the situation. She is trapped with a lunatic who may be physically incapable of rational thought due to the disease. He has killed 2 people, and threatened to kill her and her 2 kids are in the house. Most people would do anything, including supporting the execution of Warren, to get out of a situation like this but not Laurel. Her actions just didn't make sense to me.
And the ending....aw geez.
Warren finds out that Laurel is pregnant, she is having an affair with Danny (a man he knows well), and the odds of the baby being Warren's are almost nil. After the cops assault the house with explosives, Warren escapes and forces Danny to take him away in the helicopter. Grant tags along and amazingly, Warren lets him in the copter and instructs Danny to fly him 30 min away and drop Grant off at Laurel's mother's house. (Now, the grandmother happens to be standing out in her driveway when the helicopter lands in the street in front of her house and lets Grant out).
Warren is still holding a gun on Danny as they fly along the Mississippi. At some point, Warren asks Danny if he will look after Laurel and the kids when Warren is gone. Warren then throws himself out of the helicopter, plunging to his death. Danny then decides that having a dad who killed himself is too much of a stigma for the kids and purposefully crash-lands his helicopter, almost killing himself in the process. This way, the fact that their dad was a lunatic who killed 2 people and threatened to kill his family will all be made OK since he died in a crash and not by suicide.
The plot was fast-paced and the characters were well-developed but their actions did not ring true in many cases."
"The Shield's seem to be the perfect example of an all American Family. With Warren Shields as the small town family physician and Laurel Shields as a passionate special needs teacher the couple seems to be a perfect match. The two kids and family pet just put the icing on the cake when it comes to defining what we see as a goody little two shoes family whose literally got it all. But if you dig a little deeper and read into the book you'll find that nothing is as it seems and judging a book by it's cover doesn't always give you the basic facts. Laurel Shields has been secretly seeing a students father, known as Danny, over the last year and has recently found out she's pregnant with no clue if her beloved husband or her dirty little secret is the babies father. Warren Shields and partner Kyle Auster have recently found out that there medical business will be audited by the IRS which isn't good since Auster has been defrauding the government. Life for the shields really begins to spin out of control when Warren finds a lover letter written to Laurel and goes completely crazy, holding her hostage only with there two kids. As each page turns the story unfolds into this crazy twist that ends without any expectation. Even though I haven't finished this book yet I am quite fond of Iles work he has created. Even though the plot can get pretty ridiculous and you think it won't get any worse but by the next chapter it's ten times worse I defiantly think it's a good read! Iles has kept me on my feet throughout the whole book. I frantically read because I want to know what happens next after each page. The anticipation never ends! It's one of those books that's so ridiculous you can't help but love it. Good story but defiantly not my favorite by him. I'm looking forward to finishing the book to find out what really happens to this dysfunctional family and if the truth is ever revealed!"
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