Helpful Score: 2
Unger goes off the beaten track in this novel, but not so far as for her work to be unrecognizable. While contemporary, this mystery dredges up a town's past and reawakens dark secrets that have altered the lives of those involved. Not far from New York City, The Hollows enjoys a small town identity, neighbors who have known each other since grade school. The only anomaly is the younger generation, infected by the angst of the times and the usual anti-social behaviors of adolescence, once happy and playful children become sulking teenagers, no longer as pliable or as willing to endure their parents' failings or expectations. Unger uses this generation gap to frame her story, as Maggie, a psychologist returned from NYC to marry a high-school football player turned detective, Jones Cooper, the two raising a son, Ricky. Once a sweet, joyful little boy, Ricky has morphed to a sullen teen, resisting his mother's overtures and in constant conflict with his father.
The twist is in the secret history of The Hollows. When Ricky's girlfriend, Charlene, disappears, everyone remembers another disappearance from years ago, the death of a classmate that has reverberated through the lives of the main characters and left many with uneasy consciences. And for all the disaffection of the younger generation, more than one older resident is disturbed when long-buried secrets are unearthed. While the father-son conflict is exacerbated when Jones investigates Charlene's whereabouts, Maggie jumps to her son's defense to avoid concerns about the state of her marriage, counseling patients in an office connected to her home. Much of the drama is stirred up by Maggie's fears and lack of professional boundaries, but there is no shortage of guilty parties as Unger taps into the small town psyche of The Hollows. Sometimes obvious, sometimes clever, Unger indulges in a lot of emotionalism and the dashed expectations of youth. But that is her style- and her charm- as a writer, the murky territory of memory and forgiveness.
The twist is in the secret history of The Hollows. When Ricky's girlfriend, Charlene, disappears, everyone remembers another disappearance from years ago, the death of a classmate that has reverberated through the lives of the main characters and left many with uneasy consciences. And for all the disaffection of the younger generation, more than one older resident is disturbed when long-buried secrets are unearthed. While the father-son conflict is exacerbated when Jones investigates Charlene's whereabouts, Maggie jumps to her son's defense to avoid concerns about the state of her marriage, counseling patients in an office connected to her home. Much of the drama is stirred up by Maggie's fears and lack of professional boundaries, but there is no shortage of guilty parties as Unger taps into the small town psyche of The Hollows. Sometimes obvious, sometimes clever, Unger indulges in a lot of emotionalism and the dashed expectations of youth. But that is her style- and her charm- as a writer, the murky territory of memory and forgiveness.
Helpful Score: 2
What a fantastic rollercoaster ride! The story sucked you into the book. I couldn't stop reading! Great characters, amazing plot.It made you think about your own twists and turns in life, and what if's...
DISAPPOINTMENT EXTRAORDINAIRE!
I have read and loved everything that Lisa Unger has written. However, unfortunately, this book will not be placed in that category.
The writing just seemed juvenile, unintelligent and a bit drug out. It took about a 100 pages to feel like anything worthwhile was about to happen (it never really did). I realize some character development is necessary in the beginning, but enough is enough. And to top that off I still didn't feel like I liked the characters or that they were at all three dimensional.
I really wanted to like this book. But it was just a total waste of my valuable reading time. Out of five stars I would give this one and a half stars. I will still read the next book she writes though. Everybody gets a mulligan!
I have read and loved everything that Lisa Unger has written. However, unfortunately, this book will not be placed in that category.
The writing just seemed juvenile, unintelligent and a bit drug out. It took about a 100 pages to feel like anything worthwhile was about to happen (it never really did). I realize some character development is necessary in the beginning, but enough is enough. And to top that off I still didn't feel like I liked the characters or that they were at all three dimensional.
I really wanted to like this book. But it was just a total waste of my valuable reading time. Out of five stars I would give this one and a half stars. I will still read the next book she writes though. Everybody gets a mulligan!
Psychologist Maggie Cooper and her husband Detective Jones Cooper live a quiet life with their teenage son, Rick, in a small New York town. But things suddenly get crazy when Rick's girlfriend, Charlene, disappears without a trace. Some people think she ran away, but Rick insists she wouldn't do that. Charlene's disappearance reminds the townspeople of a similar case over twenty years ago where another teenage girl disappeared. Her body was found weeks later and her killer put in prison. Will the past repeat itself in this small town?
This book was billed as a thriller. I would call it mainstream fiction. I listened to the audiobook which took about ten hours. I was nearly in a coma by the halfway point. There were too many characters. At first their stories seemed unrelated, but I quickly learned that all of the characters had a secret. Some of their secrets were new. Others were twenty years old. The biggest problem was the slow motion pace of this book. There were too many descriptions...too many flashbacks. This is my first book by this author. I'm not sure if I'll be trying another one. My rating: 1.5 Stars.
This book was billed as a thriller. I would call it mainstream fiction. I listened to the audiobook which took about ten hours. I was nearly in a coma by the halfway point. There were too many characters. At first their stories seemed unrelated, but I quickly learned that all of the characters had a secret. Some of their secrets were new. Others were twenty years old. The biggest problem was the slow motion pace of this book. There were too many descriptions...too many flashbacks. This is my first book by this author. I'm not sure if I'll be trying another one. My rating: 1.5 Stars.
Welcome to The Hollows, a small insular society not far from New York City, where everyone knows everyone else - or so they think. Maggiie, the town's psychologist, and her husband Jones, the lead police detective, both grew up in The Hollows. One day their son's girlfriend, Charlene, disappears. Her Facebook page says that she's run away to NYC, but both her boyfriend and her mother say that can't be. And the girl's disappearance forces the town to deal with memories of another girl who disappeared in The Hollows when Maggie and Jones were teenagers - and was eventually found dead. There are plenty of indications that Charlene really did run away - and pleny of suspects in case she didn't.
I'm a fan of Lisa Unger's work and think that her first book - Beautiful Lies - is one of the smartest mystery/thrillers I've ever read. Of course, the problem with reading Beautiful Lies first is that I tend to compare all of her other books to that one :-) Fragile is no Beautiful Lies, but it's pretty darn good. Although I think the storyline could have been tightened up a little, the suspense in the novel never lets up. The characters are flawed and well-developed. Some have complained that the ending was a little anti-climactic, but I liked it.
Fragile is a very apt title for this book. We learn that life, among other things, is very fragile and, as Jones says "How the consequences of one careless action can cost you everything."
I'm a fan of Lisa Unger's work and think that her first book - Beautiful Lies - is one of the smartest mystery/thrillers I've ever read. Of course, the problem with reading Beautiful Lies first is that I tend to compare all of her other books to that one :-) Fragile is no Beautiful Lies, but it's pretty darn good. Although I think the storyline could have been tightened up a little, the suspense in the novel never lets up. The characters are flawed and well-developed. Some have complained that the ending was a little anti-climactic, but I liked it.
Fragile is a very apt title for this book. We learn that life, among other things, is very fragile and, as Jones says "How the consequences of one careless action can cost you everything."
Better then expected.
This is the first book I've read by this author and I was not disappointed! She draws you in from the first page, and carefully constructs the nuances and secrets of a town where everybody knows everyone else. A real page-turner!
I was disappointed with FRAGILE. I found it slow and predictable and yet I read all 467 pages waiting for something to happen which really never did. The book did have great character development but after I learned about the characters I waited to see how each detailed character would develop the story. I finished thee book thinking "that was it?". I did order the second book in the series to see if the characters, if they are the same as book one will finally do something exciting.
This was my first book by this author and I was blown away! What a great story!
