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Eager to Please

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Rachel Beckett has served 12 years of a life sentence for the murder of her husband. She did not commit the murder, and has been meticulously planning her revenge for these twelve miserable years when she finally receives a conditional parole.

Everything about this tale is very Irish, including the judicial system. American readers will be surprised to find Rachel was convicted by a "majority" vote of the jury, 10-2. Rachel was totally convinced she would be acquitted and made no mental preparations for a prison sentence. Her descent into the life of a penitentiary is harrowing. It was so profoundly shocking to her, I could not see her living a month. We gradually realize Rachel has an inner toughness and determination that permits her to make use of her time in prison. We know she has a well-formulated "plan," but we don't know what it is.

As Rachel's character unfolds, our admiration and apprehension increase in equal measure. We revise our picture of Rachel as a downtrodden drudge to something like Medea or La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Yet we have pity for her when she tries to re-establish a bond with her highly troubled daughter. All of the personalities are carefully drawn in depth. Not one is a stereotype, and each has a compelling part to play.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tightly plotted psychological thriller and look forward to future books by Julia Parsons.

Irish psychological suspense master Julie Parsons has written another winner with "Eager to Please," her third novel. This title is sure to gain as much critical acclaim as earlier efforts "Mary, Mary" and "The Courtship Gift". "Eager to Please," just like Parsons' earlier efforts, holds the reader in its grip from the beginning.

Rachel Beckett tentatively returns to the strangeness, the joys and the loneliness of freedom after twelve years in prison. Living as an outcast, but constantly watched by her parole officer, Rachel begins to slowly pick herself up. Her seventeen-year-old daughter Amy, just like the long-ago jury, is convinced that Rachel was indeed her father's murderer.

But Rachel has had more than a decade to plan revenge. And she's learned from the best. In prison, from the outcasts and hoodlums she did time with, she's learned tricks and techniques, plotting a fantastic revenge on the real killer.

Throughout the early parts of the book, we're inside Rachel's head as she returns to life on the outside. The inner psychological drama, while deftly handled, wasn't as appealing as the fast-paced, cat-and-mouse suspense of the latter half. As the real killer and the one who went to prison for a crime she didn't commit match wits, the pages turn and the heart thumps.

I loved MARY, MARY, Julie Parsons's first novel, so much that I read it twice. Her second book, THE COURTSHIP GIFT, was a letdown. And EAGER TO PLEASE is a disappointment on almost every level -- except that of writing style, which is excellent. This book takes forever to get started; for more than 100 pages virtually no forward movement takes place. Instead, the reader is served the same backstory in several different forms, and forced to watch as Rachel, the central character, moves with little purpose through her first days after release from prison. Rachel, convicted of a murder she didn't commit, is sympathetic at first, but once she sets her revenge plot in motion -- and makes use of innocent children and their innocent mother in the process -- she becomes repugnant. Her brother-in-law Daniel, the object of her vengeful scheming, rarely does anything that makes sense. I was constantly asking, "Why on earth is the man doing that?" and was never provided with answers. And Rachel's revenge is based on such a threadbare, B-movie concept that I was disappointed by the writer's lack of imagination. MARY, MARY is also a story of revenge, but written with much more imagination and flare. Julie Parsons writes beautifully, but this is probably the last of her books I will bother to read.

Julie Parson's debut novel, "Mary, Mary," was a chilling novel about a woman who is obsessed with avenging her daughter's death. Parson's third novel, "Eager to Please," is another fascinating psychological thriller with a "revenge theme".

"Eager to Please," set in Ireland, is the story of Rachel Beckett; she is a beautiful and highly educated woman who has spent the last twelve years in prison for killing her husband. Rachel has paid a terrible price for this crime, which she claims she did not commit. She leaves prison at the age of forty-two, a ruined woman. Rachel is most devastated by the fact that she can no longer have a relationship with her seventeen-year-old daughter Amy, who wants nothing to do with her.

The opening passages of this book are emotionally wrenching. Parsons gives us a vivid sense of what life is like behind bars for a person totally unsuited to such a claustrophobic and highly regimented existence. How will Rachel cope with life as a "free woman"? Although her options are few, Rachel does have plans, and they are all about revenge.

Parsons has created a number of well-developed characters: Jack Donnelly is a detective who is trying to get his bearings after separating from his wife; Andrew Bowen, Rachel's parole officer, is married to a woman he doesn't love who is slowly dying of multiple sclerosis; Judith Hill is a woman on the skids who befriends Rachel in prison and who ultimately becomes a victim herself. All of these lives intersect as the characters attempt to cope with a series of emotional and spiritual crises. Although Parsons gives ample weight to several intriguing suplots, she does not detract from the central story--how Rachel Beckett plans to take revenge on the person who ruined her life.

One interesting theme that Parsons explores is how women, such as Rachel and Judith, who are too "eager to please" the men in their lives are liable to end up in deep trouble.

I recommend "Eager to Please" for fans of complex psychological mysteries. It is touching, suspenseful and extremely engrossing.

"Eagar to Please" was my first book by Julie Parson. While I was not entirely disappointed, I would probably not look into any of her other novels. Rachel Beckett has been falsely imprisoned for the murder of her husband. She was sentenced to life, but after twelve years, she is released on a strict probation. She is not even permitted to see her daughter. After years of prison, Rachel has learned a thing or two about committing real crimes and she is determined to seek revenge on her husband's real murderer.

I found the basic plot of "Eager to Please" okay. It was fast paced, with a couple of good characters, including the main character of Rachel. However, it was slow to start, with what I felt was far too much background information. Another complaint I have is there seem to be several stories mixed in. I found that the more I read, the more confused I became. And the main plot had no real twists. Overall, I would say it is a basic mystery of sorts, and there are a great many authors out there who can do so much better. Skip this one.

This story takes place in Dublin where Rachel Beckett has just been released after twelve years in prison for the murder of her husband. Although innocent,she was framed by her brother-in-law and lover, Daniel Beckett,who actually killed him. Upon her release she has become a timid,frightened woman.Her anger and sadness have increased due to the estrangement of her only daughter,Amy. There are several subplots in the book, one involving her probation officer,Andrew Bowen,and his wife Claire.When her dearest prison friend,Judith Hill,is found brutally murdered,Jack Donnelly heads the investigation and another subplot develops. Jack was also the investigative officer in the murder of Rachel's husband. The story moves rapidly forward with everything coming together. Rachel's revenge upon Daniel Beckett is masterful,involving much complicated planning on her part. You will greatly admire her for her accomplishment. "Revenge is sweet",and she succeeded wonderfully in giving Daniel his just deserves.The characters were,for most part,one dimensional,but it did not detract from the story. This is a well written book with a surprising climax guaranteed to satisfy you.

Rachel Beckett is a well to do woman, educated and in love with her husband Martin. She is crazy about her daughter Amy, but her world ends when blood tests prove that it is impossible for Martin to be the biological father of Amy. Martin confronts Rachel who becomes so distraught she takes his gun. When the police arrive, they find Martin shot to death.

The police investigate and arrest Rachel. A jury convicts Rachel of murder in the first degree. She serves twelve years of a life sentence when she is finally released. She plans on one thing with her new freedom, vengeance on the individual who wronged her.

Julie Parsons writes excellent psychological suspense that is reminiscent of the works of Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters. Although this is a third person account, the protagonists every thought is available so that the audience understands her motivation. EAGER TO PLEASE is a haunting novel that will please its audience from the first page to its dramatic climax.

Harriet Klausner

When I first started reading "Eager to Please," I felt it was just too dark and wanted to rush home and grab another book. However, my bus was coming and this was the only reading matter I had with me. Lucky me!! To think that I might have missed the opportunity to read this superb novel. I am hesitant to divulge more than the basic plot because I personally found each revelation throughout the book a surprise and wouldn't want to deprive the reader of that experience.

This is the story of Rachel, a middle-class, well educated woman in Dublin, who was convicted of killing her husband although she has never stopped claiming her innocence. The story begins when she is being released on parole after serving 12 years of a life sentence. While in jail, Rachel lost much...her five-year old daughter was taken in by foster parents, her father, being so ashamed by the trial and never really believing her innocence, stopped visiting her after a few months, her mother died never having visited her.

As the story unfolds, we begin to realize that Rachel has an agenda of revenge against the one person she claims murdered her husband and is responsible for her imprisonment and all the personal losses she has suffered. It is fascinating to see how Rachel painstakingly orchestrates her plan. There is not a character in this book who doesn't find themselves a piece of the puzzle.

What starts as an introspective look into Rachel's rather bleak life becomes a thrilling page-turner. Ms. Parsons has written her story in such a way that is exquisitely subtle while at the same time jarring us every so often by revealing that all is not what we have come to think it is. From the first chapter through the last, we are privy to twists and turns and come to know a far different Rachel than the woman we meet on the first page. The way the story evolves reminded me very much of Robert Goddard at his very best.

I read this book in little over a day and I am not a fast reader. It is one of those books that you just can't put down. If you are in the mood for a very smooth roller coaster ride, I suggest you pick up a copy of "Eager to Please."

"Brilliant" claims Minette Waters on the fly leaf (?!) Well she also said "Deja Dead" by Kath Reichs was "Unputdownable" so I guess we should all have learned to take her recommendations with a pinch of salt by now!

"Laughable" might be more appropriate. Except that this book is so bad it is not funny. An implausable plot that turns only on the poor choices of cardboard characters. The daily dirge of dreary Rachel et al is described in minute detail and to no advantage that I can see - beyond padding a threadbare plot.

"Preposterous" if we are expected to believe, for example, that the once beautiful but now aged beyond her years and socially inadequate Rachel transforms overnight into a femme fatal capable of seducing a muscular, young stud. The book lost me right there and then.

"Forgetable". Eager To Please? Oh, please!

Eager To Please is another one of Julie Parsons sluggish, endlessly internal explorations of Sad Women playing Victim. Unfortunately Ms Parsons [does not] create real or even consistent behavior in her heroine, Rachel, who drags along for more than 400 pages examining the psychological lint in her navel. The mystery of what she is about, when it FINALLY comes into view, is so lackluster and unsatisfying that you wonder why you've spent all this time with these cardboard people. Not one of the MANY uninteresting characters is believable or exhibits convicning behavior. Their actions take place only bcause the writer WANTS them to. Co-incident rules in Ms Parsons world, and takes the place of sound reasoning and good plotting. Virtually NOTHING comes from any real emotional place so all action rings false; as an example when Daniel beats his daugther senseless for no reason and then runs to the police, apparently forgetting (idiot) that he has his daugther locked in a room in the house they are about to search. ...Unconvincing and a waste of time.