11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laura Caldwell Does it Again!, May 29, 2005
With three previous regular chick lit novels under her belt, Laura Caldwell's latest book "Look Closely" is a suspense/mystery chick lit novel - one that I found hard to put down.
It all begins when New York City Attorney Hailey Sutter receives an anonymous letter one day that simply reads: "There is no statute of limitations on murder. Look closely". Immediately Hailey knows that the note has something to do with her mother's death, which happened over twenty years ago but has always been shrouded in mystery and silence. As a matter of fact, she has been estranged from her sister and brother her entire adult life, and her father, who practices for the same law firm as Hailey, always closes up whenever the subject is brought up.
Hailey decides to once and for all solve the mystery of what really happened to her mother. The only problem is, she has no memory of the night, although she was supposedly present. And nobody's talking. So she hops on a plane and returns to the small coastal town she lived in, and begins digging deeper. The timing is bad unfortunately since she is embroiled in a tough case with a difficult client and trying to make partner in the law firm, but she manages to juggle her travel plans accordingly. And slowly, she begins uncovering details she had previously known little (if anything) about. She also suddenly starts having flashbacks of the night her mother died.
Soon, it's as though everyone could be a suspect or is hiding something: her father, who is definitely holding out on some important information and who wants Hailey to stop the investigation; the sweet, handsome Tyler who runs a hotel in the town Hailey once lived in that is inexplicably nice and helpful (and whose father had originally been assigned the details of her mother's death); her brother and sister, who she manages to track down just in time for them to suddenly and mysteriously disappear; and others. Hailey knows she is in danger and is certain that nobody wants her to know the truth. But why?
I loved this book! "Look Closely" was a page-turner of a novel that I got into immediately. Caldwell has a way of drawing the reader in within the first chapter, and this book is no exception. This book has tons of suspense, mystery, a dash of subtle romance, and some of the usual chick lit elements. I was also pleasantly and completely shocked at the ending.
There did seem to be a couple of tiny loose plot threads that didn't seem to get resolved in the end, but they were small enough to have not taken anything away from this wonderful novel.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to all suspense fans, and to anyone who enjoys a smart, exciting chick lit mystery.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars - because the pages kept turning, June 19, 2005
For me, the measure of success in a popular mystery novel is whether I want to keep turning the pages. In this book, I did. I'm a fairly fast reader, but I grew impatient with my inability to turn pages as fast as plot twists developed.
This isn't a deep psychological study of a family, but there is plenty to consider about how the truths (or partial truths) of our childhoods shape our lives. Supposedly forgotten events imprint themselves in ways that allow memory to recover itself when the time is right. This story is about how the right time unfolds.
The fast pace develops, to an extent, from the bustling life of a young attorney in Manhattan. She is smart, likeable, and interesting. And the book is populated by similarly intriguing characters, people whom we can easily imagine given their realistic dialog and occasional foibles.
As I closed the book, a few glitches became apparent to me, but these did not stop or even slow my progress through a very readable mystery. Given the parameters of this story, I do not know whether Laura Caldwell will be able to reprise her characters. But it would be nice to meet them again.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable, but good., June 29, 2005
A Kid's Review
I've read so many different books over the years, so when I find one that appeals to me more than the others, you can bet i'll review it. Although "look closely" was highly predictable by page 200, I still found myself not being able to put it down. The characters are somewhat memorable, but because so many only have small parts (i.e. maddy and ty), you forget about them after the book is through. I won't give too much away, but right after being introduced to Sean Mcknight, things started falling into place. If you want a book that you can read straight through w/o gettin bored, this one is it, just don't expect to be surprised when you get to the end.
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