4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mechanical, Contrived, and Predictable, July 12, 2006
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
nice way with words, not so good story telling, September 7, 2005
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I didn't want this book to end., August 19, 2005
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.
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