Black Out [Mass Market Paperback]

Lisa Unger (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 28, 2009 | Series: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

On the surface, Annie Powers's life in a wealthy Florida suburb is happy and idyllic. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; they have a beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pierced when she senses that the demons of her previous life, when she was known as Ophelia March, have resurfaced and, to her horror, are now creeping up on her. Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger strange and confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she has to quickly piece them together before her new life is taken away from her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Annie Powers leads the perfect life in Florida with her husband, Gray, and their four-year-old daughter in this stellar character-driven stand-alone from bestseller Unger (A Sliver of Truth). Less than a decade earlier, however, Annie was Ophelia March, the teenage captive—or accomplice—of spree killer Marlowe Geary. Gray, a partner in his father's private security consultant firm, tracked Marlowe and rescued Ophelia after sending the killer's car over a cliff. Reinventing herself with Gray's help, Annie can't remember all that happened during her years with Marlowe, and she's prone to panic attacks and blackouts. When a strange man appears on her property, Annie's sure Marlowe is back. As a shady police detective digs into her past, Annie must try to recover the memories she buried if she's ever going to be free from Marlowe. Unger expertly turns what could have been a routine serial-killer story into a haunting odyssey for Annie, dropping red herrings and clues along the way until the reader feels as unsettled as Annie. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Annie Powers seems to lead an idyllic suburban life. She has a devoted husband, a cherubic young daughter, and a beautiful home with sweeping views of the Gulf of Florida. But not so many years ago, Annie was entangled in a scenario that was anything but serene. Her emotionally twisted relationship with serial killer Marlowe Geary had turned her from a moody teen into a criminal accomplice with a hardened heart. Only by faking her death and taking on a new identity was Annie able to jettison her past—or so she thought. Her husband, Gray, had long insisted that Marlowe was dead. But after an eerie encounter on the beach, Annie is not so sure. As the cracks in her carefully constructed facade deepen, she flees her family, determined to learn the truth. Annie’s mental state becomes more precarious with each passing day, until she can no longer distinguish what’s imaginary from what’s real. There’s a bit too much shifting between present and past in this stand-alone psychological thriller by Unger, author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed Ridley Jones series. But the author makes up for an occasionally awkward narrative with the compelling character of Annie: dark, troubled, and teetering on the brink. --Allison Block --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307472299
• ISBN-13: 978-0307472298
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1.2 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Unger is an award-winning New York Times and internationally bestselling author. Her novels have sold more than 1.5 million copies and have been translated into twenty-six different languages.

Her writing is hailed as "stellar" (USA Today), "sensational" (Publishers Weekly) and "sophisticated" (New York Daily News) with "gripping narrative and evocative, muscular prose" (Associated Press).

Novels:

HEARTBROKEN (2012)
New York Daily News Pick: "Summer's Top New Thriller Novels." Publishers Weekly Editors Pick: "The Best New Books for Week of June 25″, Suspense Magazine "Best of 2012 Books".

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND (2011)
Family Circle Magazine "Cool Reads for Hot Days". Washington Life Magazine "Lit Pick".

FRAGILE (2010)
Good Morning America "Top Book Pick", Harper's Bazaar "Hot Books", Named "Emerging Author" by Target.

DIE FOR YOU (2009)
Good Housekeeping "Book Pick", Good Morning America & Parade "Great Summer Read", Today show "Top Summer Pick".

BLACK OUT (2008)
Florida Book Awards Medal, finalist for Prix Polar International Award, Today show "Top 10" Summer Read, BookSense Notable.

SLIVER OF TRUTH (2007)
Sequel to Beautiful Lies, BookSense Pick and Doubleday Bookclub Main Selection.

BEAUTIFUL LIES (2006)
International Book of the Month, BookSense Pick, Amazon.com's Top 10 Thriller and finalist for "Best Novel" by the International Thriller Writers.

Writing as Lisa Miscione:

SMOKE (2005, 2012 Re-release)
TWICE (2004, 2012 Re-release)
THE DARKNESS GATHERS (2003, 2011 Re-release)
ANGEL FIRE (2002, 2011 Re-release)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many blackouts July 28, 2008

By N. J. Kennedy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book sounded so good. I don't mind flashbacks but this overdid it to the nth degree. When I finished it I wasn't sure what really happened and what was the main character's hallucinations and delusions. None of the characters were people you could warm up to and feel for, not even the supposed victim. In the end you just wanted the bad guy to catch up with her and put her and me out of our misery.

27 of 34 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Well Written, but Too Convoluted for its own Good June 2, 2008

By Thriller Lover VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Lisa Unger is a writer of enormous talent, and I really enjoyed her earlier novel BEAUTIFUL LIES. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for her most recent book BLACK OUT.

The major flaw with BLACK OUT is how Unger structures the story. Unfortunately, she decides not to unfold the plot in a linear fashion. Instead she constantly jumps back and forth through time in an episodic manner, which prevents the storyline from gaining any true momentum. I also felt the plot was at times confusing, making it difficult for me to understand what was going on. The ending is similarly ambigious and perplexing, which led me to put down the book with a certain amount of frustration.

I give Unger credit for trying something different, and there's no denying that the prose in BLACK OUT is first rate. I will definitely buy more of her books in the future. Still, this novel was ultimately a listlessly-paced disappointment, and I would recommend first-time Unger readers to try BEAUTFIUL LIES instead.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars (4.5) "No passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear." May 27, 2008

By Luan Gaines HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Unger hits a home run with this nail-biter, a story that ratchets up the sense of imminent danger with each chapter. An ordinary wife and mother, Annie Powers, is not so ordinary as she first appears. But then, neither is her husband who works in a company that does business in a post-9/11 world, Gray Powers perhaps offering his wife the unique assistance that allows a troubled young woman to create a different life after years of trauma. But this chance to start over, with Gray and daughter, Victory, on Florida's Gulf Coast isn't purchased without considerable cost. Gray's private enterprises facilitate his shielding of Annie and this is a bargain she is willing to make. Finally secure, even a little careless of late, Annie is suddenly overtaken by an eerie sense that she is being watched, that the impossible has happened and "he" has returned to claim her. She knows she is safe, that Gray has effectively erased the past, but it is all shattered in a moment in the soft repetition of a name, "Ophelia".

Tired of running, too terrified to stay, Annie is thrust into an impossible conundrum, an unbearable reality. As fragments of memories return to her consciousness, Annie relives those dark days of abandonment and humiliation, a young girl with no one to care for her, a ready victim for a crafty predator. But it must end. She must find the strength to confront her demons or die trying. In the world Unger has created for her protagonist, nothing can be taken for granted, nor is Annie the only damaged soul: the walking wounded don't always reveal their scars. Annie's story is riveting, her gradual revelations tinged with years of emotional abuse, adrift in a violent world. Beginning with a first love with serial murderer Marlowe Geary, the details of the past remain obscure, hidden in her subconscious; events conspire to reawaken the terror she has not experienced for five years, when Annie believed her long nightmare was finally over. But now someone is asking questions, she is being followed and all the precautions of wealth and family cannot protect this woman from this menace.

The cast of characters is bizarre: a sociopathic killer, seductive and deadly; a damaged girl, ready fodder for such a predator; a driven man who has seen and done too much, horrified by his own actions; a calculating, controlling father-in-law, arrogant in the exercise of power; a father who repeatedly fails his daughter; a loving child who embraces her parents with the sweet generosity of innocence; and the cold, beating heart of geography known for its curiosities, in reality thrumming with atavistic hunger. Unger explores Florida's underbelly, a terrain blessed with nature's beauty, where evil lurks in the moldy crevasses sunshine never touches. Murder, greed, power- all coexist beneath the placid exterior of the sunshine state, Annie running from the horrors of the past only to meet them again, one last time. Skillfully weaving the theme of a mother's commitment to her child with the incredible chaos of a past that seeks to reclaim her, Annie searches for redemption, uncovering a web of deceit that is shocking. In her final challenge, Annie is fearless. Luan Gaines/ 2008.