Customer Reviews

Life Penalty

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was surprised to see the poor(?) ratings on this book. I thought that the book had been very well written and couldn't put it down.

Gail, her husband Jack, Jennifer her oldest, and Cindy the youngest, were one happy family. Having plenty of wealth, a beautiful home, and all that goes with a richer lifestyle, you wouldn't want for anything more. But perfect doesn't last forever when six-year-old Cindy is raped and murdered. Her killer leaves her under a bush afterwords like a piece of trash.

When Gail comes home after an afternoon with her friend to find police there waiting on her, she is very fearful. Of course the minute she learns the news, she is in denial big time, a state of shock, and takes forever to even be able to talk at all.

As life continues on, Gail has her mind on one thing only-and that is finding Cindy's killer no matter what. She does very dangerous things; hitchhikes on the streets, and goes to very dangerous parts of town to find the killer. The police just won't work fast enough for her.

She nearly gets herself killed many times over, and not only that she wants to die. She finds crazy ways to injure herself so that she can end her life and be with Cindy. There is no end to the agony until-you must read and find out.

"Life Penalty" was a fairly easy read, although a little far-fetched. Jack was too patient, Jennifer to perfect, and Gail just plain too obsessed. I was pleased to see that the police knew what she was doing and that they weren't portrayed as incompetent, but didn't Jack ever phone home during the day and wonder where his wife was? Didn't Jennifer mention coming home to an empty house to him? I also thought the ending was terrible - I understand why she did what she did and even that it wasn't important to the reader to know what the results of her actions would be, but I thought it unreasonable to expect that the reader would accept the fact that other characters reacted the way they did. I enjoyed the book to the extent that I would read future books by this author, but not enough to give it a ringing endorsment.

I didn't like Gail either and thought she was the single biggest idiot to ever hit the literary pages. The loss of a child is the worst possible loss, but Gail was just such a loathsome character and did such irrational, stupid things even by trauma standards.

One thing that irked me was early in the book, after Gail learned of her daughter's murder, she pretended the hospital where she [Gail] was admitted was a setting. I didn't like the way the doctors were called actors. I didn't like the whole scenario, e.g. calling the hospital a "setting," the hospital personell "understudies," herself the "center of attention" and a doctor "a distinguished looking actor wearing a white coat," who was clearly a doctor and to REALLY add insult to injury, the "an actress in a white uniform." That whole stupid business of converting the hospital into a stage for her fantasies was an insult to everyone's intelligence.

Everybody else seemed to feel Gail was an irrational idiot. The most stupid thing she did short of that Halloween bit the park was to just accuse a man of killing her child by saying to him, "I'm her mother." The poor guy must have wondered WHOSE mother -- Jane Pauley's?! That was dangerous and just too stupid for belief.

Everything Gail did was illogical, from the park to the rental rooms to the false accusation to the stupid way she related to people and lastly, the really bad ending. I didn't like the ending at all and could not see how it could work. The ending was really a beginning, in a way and it was just so bad it made Gail even more loathsome. I didn't like her in the first place.

I read "Life Penalty," by Joy Fielding, and found this book interesting enough to give it four stars. I would have given it all five stars, but the story, although reasonably interesting, was less than perfect. Unlike most of the negative reviews, however, I did not dislike the character of Gail. I agree that the lengths she went to in trying to find her young daughter's killer was extreme, yet in a way it could also be understandable. Gail was a mother who was outraged by the senseless killing of her little girl, as most normal mothers would be. In fact, in reading the story, the character interaction gave the essence that Gail seemed to be the only one who was so deeply affected by Cindy's murder. Gail's so-called friends were unbelievably callous at times and I really didn't get the sense that Gail's husband or teenaged daughter were as affected. The story seemed a bit abrupt after Cindy's murder, and it seemed everyone (except for Gail) "got on with" their lives a little too quickly, without much outrage or determination to find the killer. Gail's family and friends should have been more comforting to her, but reading this book, I just had the sense that Gail was grieving alone. Other than these character flaws, I found "Life Penalty" to be a reasonably easy, quick, and interesting read.

Joy Fielding once again releases an incredible book. The books main points were placed strategically throughout the book creating a feeling within the reader that they were the lady who's child had been abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered. The ending added an interesting twist to the plot--defiantly not a story to pass up. I would recommend "Life Penalty" to anyone who enjoys murder/mystery/revenge books.

This author has written some truly good books, but this one falls far short of the mark. I agree with the other reviewers that Gail is for the birds. She plain made no sense! She repeatedly did dangerous things and one stupid thing that really stands out in the minds of most readers is the way she point blank accused a man who was staying at the same flop house she was renting. I also thought her hitch hiking escapades were implausible and just plain stupid. She had no right to criticize her surviving daughter Jennifer when she [Gail] was a guilty party. All that stupid woman did was sneak around, commit irrational acts and lie. Jack was a saint for putting up with her. And, yes, why didn't he or somebody call the house to be sure she didn't lapse into another irrational fit? I think somebody, like an available neighbor or a visiting nurse should have supervised her. Gail was clearly a danger to herself and others. I really didn't like the way she blamed Jennifer's boyfriend for killing Cindy. (The brief glimpses the reader is given of Cindy portray a spoiled girl). I am glad Jennifer wised up and bailed out on gail. I really didn't like Gail.

I read this book several years ago and loved it. The ending was the best. Too bad our society doesn't give death sentences to murderers
all the time instead of life in prison. The victim received a death sentence. Murderers are given too easy a sentence and one day I hope it will be changed.

Why this book is getting bad reviews I can only think that there are many readers who don't believe as I do. I would recommend this book to all who want
a good book to read.

This book was OK. The way the mother looks for her daughter's killer, I thought, was a little far-fetched. I liked the way the book ended. On the whole, the book wasn't bad, I would recommend it.

I picked this hardcover up during the 80's when it first came out and I enjoyed the read. Sure some of this sounds far-fetched but Joy Fielding along with Mary Higgins Clark were at the top of women writers in the 80's given readers chilling suspense and a good fast read. It seems now a days all these stories they wrote about so well, have been put through the mill and rehashed a million times over. I guess when you look back they may seem somewhat tame and maybe even dull compared to what they write about these days but I still remember this story and reading it till 4AM till finished and enjoying it, thats what readings about. Its really not as bad as many of the reviewers claim.

This book took me a year to read because it was so easy to put down. The last 3/4's of the book could have been written tighly in maybe twenty pages and maybe not even worth it. Too simplistic, too underdeveloped. The Gail was dull and selfish and incredibly self centered. I little feeling for her except "Boy that was stupid". The worst of her books.