Mad River Road [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Joy Fielding (Author), Judith West (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2006

After spending a year in prison, Ralph Fisher has explicit plans for his first night of freedom: tonight, someone will be held accountable. He goes to murderous lengths to obtain the address of his former wife - the woman he blames for his fate and against whom he has sworn vengeance. Determined to bring her to his idea of justice, Ralph’s next step is to travel from Florida’s sandy beaches to Dayton, Ohio, where his ex-wife is struggling to make ends meet on Mad River Road. Also in Florida, Jamie Kellogg wakes from an agonizing nightmare of her mother’s funeral, and assesses her life: a pretty but unaccomplished twenty-nine-year-old woman in a dead-end job, with an ex-husband in Atlanta, a married lover in the hospital, and a virtual stranger in her bed. But this stranger is everything the previous men in her life weren’t: tender, attentive, and adventurous. After convincing Jamie to quit her miserable job and ditch her judgmental, perfectionist sister, he proposes a romantic getaway. While Jamie wonders if this thrilling man might finally be her Prince Charming, they plan a road trip to visit his son, who lives with his mother on a street called Mad River Road…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the nail-biting 18th suspense novel from Fielding (Puppet), a trio of women trapped in a web of lies, danger and self-revelation must confront their deepest fears. Lily and Emma, each a young mother with an adorable young son, are carving out new lives in a depressing Dayton, Ohio, neighborhood that caters to single mothers, while Jamie, in Florida, is a 29-year-old single dealing with the recent death of her mother and an affair with a married man who's been hospitalized. Both Lily, an aspiring writer, and Emma, a compulsive liar and shoplifter, struggle to recover from tragedies that led both to assume new names. When a sexy but dangerous man Jamie meets in a bar persuades her to quit her job and escape her perfectionist sister, the pretty but insecure blonde winds up on a wild road trip to Ohio that will inextricably link her fate with that of Lily and Emma. Packed with breathless twists and turns, Fielding's latest set of women in jeopardy excite and delight. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

With Whispers and Lies (2002), veteran best-selling author Fielding delivered a novel with Hitchcock-level suspense, and she has been trying, somewhat desperately, to match that level of excellence ever since. Better than her previous effort, Lost (2003), but not as good as Whispers Fielding's new novel tracks the movements of a man recently released after spending a year in jail on domestic-abuse charges. Ralph, who blames his jail time on a nosy neighbor, breaks into her apartment and forces her to give up his ex-wife's new address. Meanwhile, flighty Jamie Kellogg, constantly berated by her mother and her sister for her lack of a career and a steady boyfriend, meets a handsome stranger in a bar who talks her into quitting her job and traveling across the country to Mad River Road. Fielding uses a number of inventive techniques to keep readers involved in her story, including clueing us in to the identity of Jamie's new boyfriend from the get-go and showing her downward spiral from infatuation to disillusionment to sheer terror. She also throws in a delicious plot twist. Unfortunately, uninspired dialogue and a one-dimensional villain detract from her pointed commentary on relationships and her imaginative plotting. Still, Fielding's fans will want to check out her latest offering. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed; Unabridged edition (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597376469
• ISBN-13: 978-1597376464
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.1 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Joy Fielding is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Still Life, Charley's Web, Heartstopper, See Jane Run, and other acclaimed novels. She divides her time between Toronto and Palm Beach, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take a breath when you're done reading the last page, January 3, 2006

By 

N. Larrabee (Tarrytown, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mad River Road: A Novel (Hardcover)

Lilly Rodgers and Emma Frost are single mothers and neighbors on Mad River Road. Both live in fear that their secrets will be discovered one day. The prologue captures the reader's attention and does not let go. Jamie Kellogg hits a low point in her life when she discovers a secret about her lover. She hates her job and decides to leave Florida with her new and exciting lover Brad Fisher. Jamie has never meant anyone like Brad. As Jamie slowly questions and discovers the details of his life he has told her are false; his behavior becomes more erratic. All three stories are on a collision course as Brad and Jamie reach Ohio. Not to the very end will you know all the answers. Mad River Road is a thrilling work of fiction!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fielding working her way back, February 4, 2006

By 

SW (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mad River Road: A Novel (Hardcover)

Though not as good as her best work (which, in my opinion are See Jane Run, Grand Avenue and Whispers and Lies) it is a VAST improvement over the debacle that was Lost (which kept me away from Puppet.)

Mad River Road has some nice twists and turns which kept me guessing and I was appropriately creeped out by the menacing Brad. Overall, a solid thriller.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a come back, January 20, 2006

By 

Annie "bookwishes4" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mad River Road: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Joy Fielding since Grand Avenue but her last two books have been a let down to me. Since I was able to get Mad River Road from the library, I figured I would give her another chance to redeem herself and all I can say is Wow. I read this one in a day.

Mad River Road opens with a man in Florida breaking into a womans house for two reasons. One to get even with her for being an intrical part of him being sent to jail, and two, to find out where is wife is hiding with his son.

We then meet Jamie. A 29 year old woman who hates her job and has always been put down by her mother and sister. She has an ex husband in GA and a married lover. When she meets a handsom stranger at a bar and falls into bed with him she thinks her life is about to change. On an impulse, this new man invites her to take a road trip to Ohio so he can see his son. They pack up the car and head to Mad River Road.

Finally we have two single mothers, Emma and Lily, living on Mad River Road. A haven for woman who had a past and whos futures were unclear.

As the story unfolds, Jamie and the man of her dreams begin to head to Ohio and we slowly begin to learn what the connections are between these 4 people and the secrets that they are hiding.

Mad River Road is a page turner with an ending that you wont want to miss.