Susan Richards Shreve

Annie Blakemore (nee Delores Ann Grainey) is an opera understudy, unhappily married to Adam and the mother of 2 children. Adam is in a wheelchair due to a car accident which occurred when Annie was driving. He is bitter, verbally abusive and, Annie fears, on the verge of violence. Over the course of her life she has had major events occur that have been somehow connected to priests. When she sees a priest on the subway she feels something is destined and begins to follow him. She basically stalks him for 2 days while her marriage reaches a final breaking point. The priest, Father James Grady, is really an Irish actor, Will Huston, in Washington to seek revenge against the man who killed his 6 year old brother 20 years ago in Belfast. Will has just located him and needs to release the anger that has eaten at him all these years. The story weaves back and forth between these two as we see things from both perspectives. The denouement is unusual but probably appropriate for these characters, for these were very unusual people.… (more)

{My Thoughts} – Jess is the youngest of the O’fines family. She is the save-the marriage-baby. She is the most compliant. She does what she’s asked and told, she doesn’t argue and just accepts everything at face value. She is extremely close to her her sister Teddy. Teddy is non-compliant when it comes to rules and laws. She has a compulsion to steal things, no matter the consequence. She is the complete and utter opposite of teddy and that helps to bring the two sisters closer then ever, they are thick as blood and in the case of this book it is a good quality for the sisters to share with one another.

Jess is left to babysit her baby niece, while everyone else attends the rehearsal dinner for her older sisters wedding. Jess was suppose to go but then her older brother Danny messed up getting a sitter and she was asked/ told she was to be the one to babysit. She was given explicit directions not to take her eyes off the baby, but she was moping and did just that. She took her her eyes off the baby and because of that someone had managed to kidnap the baby.

When Jess and Teddy where younger before all the shoplifting had started they would play a game where they were detectives and would solve some terrible crimes that happened in their house. This was part of their sister bonding. It helped them to keep things together for awhile for the girls while they tried to work through all the bad that had been happening in their home lives, all the change that they weren’t able to fully deal with at the current time in their lives, a way to work through all the good and bad coming their ways.

It was because of this game they played when they were younger that Jess was able to piece together what had taken place when the baby went missing – she was able to make sense of what happened. She paid attention to the little details and was able to recall them enough to help her sort things out in her head.

This book is a well written mystery and was a very enjoyable read. I really hope that in time my daughter will read these kinds of books, because they help to keep the mind wondering. They help to keep you thinking and on your feet and they help you to use your imagination in the best possible ways. I believe that if any child enjoys cartoons like scooby-doo, they can get into books like these, they just need to be given a little push. Right now my daughter is mostly interested in fairytales and humor type books, but in time I hope she will expand and become more interested in other genres. It is for this reason alone I keep so many different kinds of books on hand for her to be able to read. Who knows, maybe the boys will read and like these kinds of books too, very soon!… (more)

{My Thoughts} – Jess is the youngest of the O’fines family. She is the save-the marriage-baby. She is the most compliant. She does what she’s asked and told, she doesn’t argue and just accepts everything at face value. She is extremely close to her her sister Teddy. Teddy is non-compliant when it comes to rules and laws. She has a compulsion to steal things, no matter the consequence. She is the complete and utter opposite of teddy and that helps to bring the two sisters closer then ever, they are thick as blood and in the case of this book it is a good quality for the sisters to share with one another.

Jess is left to babysit her baby niece, while everyone else attends the rehearsal dinner for her older sisters wedding. Jess was suppose to go but then her older brother Danny messed up getting a sitter and she was asked/ told she was to be the one to babysit. She was given explicit directions not to take her eyes off the baby, but she was moping and did just that. She took her her eyes off the baby and because of that someone had managed to kidnap the baby.

When Jess and Teddy where younger before all the shoplifting had started they would play a game where they were detectives and would solve some terrible crimes that happened in their house. This was part of their sister bonding. It helped them to keep things together for awhile for the girls while they tried to work through all the bad that had been happening in their home lives, all the change that they weren’t able to fully deal with at the current time in their lives, a way to work through all the good and bad coming their ways.

It was because of this game they played when they were younger that Jess was able to piece together what had taken place when the baby went missing – she was able to make sense of what happened. She paid attention to the little details and was able to recall them enough to help her sort things out in her head.

This book is a well written mystery and was a very enjoyable read. I really hope that in time my daughter will read these kinds of books, because they help to keep the mind wondering. They help to keep you thinking and on your feet and they help you to use your imagination in the best possible ways. I believe that if any child enjoys cartoons like scooby-doo, they can get into books like these, they just need to be given a little push. Right now my daughter is mostly interested in fairytales and humor type books, but in time I hope she will expand and become more interested in other genres. It is for this reason alone I keep so many different kinds of books on hand for her to be able to read. Who knows, maybe the boys will read and like these kinds of books too, very soon!… (more)