15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Paint It Red,, August 17, 2007
This review is from: Paint It Red (Paperback)
Vanessa Abbott is finally ready to start rebuilding her life. She has been working hard (as a realtor) to keep food on the table, and living like an island, after her husband's suicide (he jumped off a bridge into the Missouri river), two years earlier. But now after two years, Vanessa wants to love again; a special someone who would fill the void in her heart and soul. And be a good father to her ten year old son.
Johnny is such a cute and intelligent little kid, that the reader can't help loving him. Life hasn't been very easy for him, despite his loving mother, there was always a void in his life, because his father Jim, when alive was absent from his son's life. Johnny is also a very talented painter just like his father.
Vanessa meets Christian, first in the art Gallery where the last of Jim`s paintings are being shown. Christian is a contractor and he is looking for a house to buy. I liked how the relationship between them evolved, from business acquaintances to friendship/attraction to love. They were serious about each other from the start. While Jim had been moody, and brooding, so absorbed in his paintings. Christian is open and honest, and he puts a smile on her face.
But someone is watching from the shadows, someone who will make all of them pay. And when Jim's friends start dying one by one (with a red slash drawn across their chests, the same sign Jim used to draw across the paintings he disliked , and wanted to destroy) and Vanessa starts receiving some chilling phone calls, along with other creepy events, she realizes with dread that perhaps Jim is still alive. And considering how unstable he was the last few months before his suicide... But who is really tormenting her? Is it Jim, come back from the dead, or is it someone else? And in both cases, the question lingers, Why?
This was a very good suspense read. It also kept me guessing till the end. I loved Grandpa John, whom Vanessa remembers throughout. Grandpa John's wise sayings are beautiful and meaningful, adding a poignancy to the story. However, I thought that there should have been a bit more concentration on the romance.
In conclusion, I liked this book. It is a very good suspense story, a good love story, with a touch of poignancy all throughout.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great characters and interesting storyline, August 9, 2007
This review is from: Paint It Red (Paperback)
Vanessa's life was forever altered the night her tortured artist husband, Jim Abbott took his own life, jumping off a bridge, his body never to be recovered from the murky depths of the Missouri River. Leaving no insurance behind and plenty of debts, Vanessa has struggled to build a home and a future for her and son Johnny. Two years later, she's a successful realtor, Johnny is a well adjusted artist in training, and she's ready to move on by selling the last of Jim's paintings. At the art show, she meets sexy contractor Christian. Just as her life is falling into place, people from her and Jim's past are being murdered, with a red slash painted across their bodies - similar to what Jim would do to an unwanted work of art. Then the chilling phone calls and misplaced items start appearing. Could Jim have survived his cascade off the bridge?
Cassidy's latest has her trademark strong female character who won't take the terror sitting down, as well as a charismatic hero figure (and nice for a change that he isn't a cop)! In Johnny, she has created a believable pre-teen struggling with his own feelings for his father who was long absent before dying. The novel could stand to be further developed (it is just over 300 pages), for instance instead of Vanessa reminiscing on events of the recent past, Cassidy could have allowed them to unfold to the reader. Secondary characters could have been more developed as well, particularly Jim's brothers and friend Scott. Overall, it's a good story and Cassidy deftly weaves the intricate plot and takes the reader on an interesting journey to find the culprit.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paint it Thrilling!, September 14, 2007
This review is from: Paint It Red (Paperback)
Carla Cassidy's books just keep getting better and better! I was hooked from page one and finished within a day! A great surprise ending. Bravo!
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