Customer Reviews

Life Sentences

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I really liked Alice Blanchard's first book, "Darkness Peering." Her second, "Breathtaker," has flaws but is engrossing and interesting all the same. "Life Sentences," however, is a disappointment. Blanchard seems to have phoned this one in. It's rather as if Victor Frankenstein had built his skeleton and then couldn't be bothered to add flesh or muscle or to flip the switch on that life-giving gizmo.

Despite a couple of twists, the plot is predictable. The overall arc of the heroine's story is obvious from the very first page. There's nothing wrong with this approach in theory: you know where the story is going, so the fun comes in seeing how it gets there. In this sort of narrative, it's not the destination that matters; it's the journey.

But this premise works only if the journey is surprising and interesting. The trajectory of "Life Sentences," unfortunately, is just the opposite. There are no real surprises, even though some of the events are more than unbelievable (just wait till you get to the whole forest scene and its aftermath -- and its prologue, come to that.) The action moves implacably and implausibly to the expected final confrontation, which, when it comes, is an anti-climax with little emotional power; we've all seen similar scenes too many times before, and there's no sense that Daisy is in any real danger. The feel-good ending is a treacly fantasy, rather like an "awww" moment in a sitcom -- and just as real.

Character development is both erratic (Jack and Daisy) and cliched (the lecherous boss, the sexual abuser [who reads like one of those featureless composite characters in bad pop-psychology articles], the serial killer who seems to have come from Psychopath Central Casting, [and whose backstory accounts for his behavior far too neatly]). The science is interesting but heavy-handed (it's not hard to understand; it's just presented in "now-it's-time-for-some-exposition" chunks.)

The basic idea is a good one: to explore important questions about genetics, destiny, and family. Based on Blanchard's skill in "Darkness Peering," I would have thought that she could have built this foundation into a complex, ambiguous, and suggestive novel. Alas, she hasn't; the book is ultimately too generic. The whole story feels mechanical and listless, with melodrama (the flood, the fire, the river) and quirkiness (Anna's silly language, the walk on the lakebed, the killer's father's job) substituting for genuine storytelling.

This book is all over the map. I enjoyed the author's use of language and images. The setup -- a missing sister who is unbalanced without her meds -- is also intriguing. I have no idea why the author opened with a medical suspense scene that has nothing to do with the story. I have to assume the science is right, though given some of the holes in the police work she lays out, I'm not convinced. There were clunky parts -- characters saying things to one another that the other character already knew, chapters that began without establishing point of view or setting us in time and place, Daisy has information she has no way of actually having, character picking up cell phone voicemail messages without knowing a password -- all small things but each time I encountered one, it bugged me enough to take me out of the story. The cop, Jack, does some really stupid and unrealistic things (it's akin to having the heroine walk down into the dark basement alone when she hears an odd sound) and, as expected, he gets himself in trouble. I don't like invincible killers -- maniacs who seem to have unlimited resources and knowledge, they are way over the top. And I didn't particularly like the feel-good wrap up. Bottom line, the book had potential but it falls short. It's uneven enough that the good parts get tainted by the bad. But it's a quick and interesting read if you don't fight the absurdities.

LIFE SENTENCES really got under my skin. It's a suspense thriller involving two sisters whose lives have taken radically different paths. Daisy Hubbard is a professional on a fast-track and her little sister Anna has a history of mental illness and is spinning out of control. When her big sister tries to help, a fascinating mystery unfolds. The story is utterly compelling from first page to last. Blanchard is great at creating three-dimensional characters with tremendous heart. The story is loaded with atmosphere. The action is swift and surprising. The genetics research is beautifully handled. The ideas are fresh and interesting. All these elements are woven together so successfully that LIFE SENTENCES is an impressive tapestry. The great thing about Blanchard is that each one of her books takes a different kind of risk. Take the risk with LIFE SENTENCES--Blanchard's storytelling is masterful.

Alice Blanchard's "Life Sentences" poses the question: How much of our physical and mental health is determined by our genes and how much by our environment? If a person is unlucky enough to inherit one or more faulty genes, is he inevitably doomed? Daisy Hubbard is a researcher based in Boston who works for an arrogant scientist named Marlon Truett. Daisy has no boyfriend, a schizophrenic sister named Anna who has brought her family untold grief, and a widowed mother. Her work is her life--she is trying to cure Stier-Zellar's disease, a rare genetic disorder that killed her half-brother. When Daisy's sister disappears, her mother convinces Daisy to fly to Los Angeles to track Anna down.

Daisy's quest brings her together with an LAPD detective named Jack Makowski, a compulsive do-gooder and a tenacious cop. Jack has been working on three other missing persons cases, and Anna will be his fourth. His investigation leads him to a sociopath named Roy who is hiding some dreadful secrets that will bring Daisy's world crashing down around her.

"Life Sentences" is a quirky book that branches off in a number of directions. In the beginning, it seems that the author is writing a medical thriller about genetic diseases. Then, Blanchard delves into the deep-seated family problems that plague Daisy, Anna, and their mother Lily. The author also probes the mind of the villain, whose sick behavior stems from an abnormal childhood. There is a romantic subplot involving Daisy and Jack, and the book concludes with a series of violent confrontations between Roy and the good guys.

Does the book work? Yes and no. We get to know Daisy well, and we sympathize with this sad woman whose devotion to her career cannot make up for her loneliness, insecurity, and bitter memories. Detective Jack Makowski does not seem to be an ideal match for a woman like Daisy, but somehow the two fit well together. Unfortunately, the book descends into fantasy when Blanchard paints the villain as a brilliant conniver who effortlessly deceives the hapless cops time and again. The detectives make ridiculously amateurish mistakes that enable Roy to carry out his twisted plans.

"Life Sentences" is an instructive look at "orphan diseases" and the consequences for those who are carriers. Blanchard's descriptive writing and dialogue are lively, and although the four-hundred page book could have been trimmed a bit, the story moves along at a good pace. However, "Life Sentences" would have been even better had it featured a more realistic villain and a more tightly focused plot.

Blanchard keeps coming up with great ideas for her books. The "debris killer" in Breathtaker, and this genetics angle in Life Sentences. Love the powerul literary writing. Fantastic characters, and dense story. I find this author to be highly unusual, and thank God. Different is better in this over-played genre. Great book.

I usually don't write these things. But the "Ugh. Crap." comment below is not only ridiculous, but ignorant. Life Sentences is a touching, disturbing and beautiful novel that is way, way, way better than most of the books passing for thrillers these days. It's not an "airplane read." It's a book to be savored. This writer should be on the best-seller list if there's any justice in the universe.

Except some unbelievable scenarios. For instance: The cop breaks a few rules to remove a renowned serial killer from jail one night by forging a signature. Then, alone, escorts the serial killer deep into the woods with no backup. Hmmm. We're halfway through the book... I wonder what will happen?? The killer escapes, (a gimme), starts a fire which leads to massive forest fires and the death of a homeless man AND he then kills again. This time, it's the heroine's sister. There is no mention that the heroine is upset with him at all about this???? She's just glad to see him at the funeral. ??? After 6 months of the killer being on the loose, the cop finally catches the guy and is regarded as a real 'hero' by the other cops and retires with much dignity. Uh huh.

And why is the park full of so many mommies with their children, even slathering sunscreen on them, at 6:50 in the morning?

A woman I am interested in has read this book and posted a review. The review was favorable so I wanted to see what the appeal of this novel was to her.
The book arrived on a cold wet day when I was coming down with the flu, perfect time to dive in and have a look. I soon noticed that everything was seen in elaborate detail. I reached a sentence that went something like this " the waitress approached our table with a head full of split ends." I couldn't help myself from laughing out loud. Oh well, I guess it's a girl thing and I continued on. As the story developed I had a hard time putting this book down. The plot moved at machine speed with lots of surprises right up to the end. I really enjoyed this book and would read another of her novels.

Cutting at least 100 pages could only have helped this book. There was an incredible amount of repetition as characters thought over (and over and over) the same events, in the same words. Blanchard repeatedly broke what little tensions she'd managed to build with rambling descriptions. I like a well-turned metaphor as much as the next voracious reader, but Blanchard used WAY too much padding. This has to be the sloooooowest suspense novel I've ever slogged through, in spite of having (and using) enough plot points for at least three (better) books.

Daisy was supposed to be so brilliant, but she most common responses when anyone spoke to her were "What?" or "Really?" and she proved remarkably slow on the uptake outside of the lab. She frequently spouted factoids that let Blanchard show off her research, but I caught a couple of inaccuracies in some of the simpler ones (like, "most caucasian babies are born with dark hair,") so I can't vouch for the more complex stuff. And you simply can't convince me that a top geneticist named "Daisy" wouldn't be going by "D. MiddleName Hubbard" by her second year in grad school. Freddy the Fuzz, I mean Jack, has a couple of believable moments, but you have to read pretty closely to find them.

Get it from the library if you feel compelled to read it.

Life Sentences is a wonderfully eerie and utterly engrossing thriller about a Boston geneticist who drops everything, and travels across the country to investigate the disappearance of her schizophrenic sister. Alice Blanchard brings many skills to the table here--extensive research into gene therapy, a rich plot with compelling characters and beautiful narrative description. This is a great book-- not to be missed.