Come Home by Lisa Scottoline

Come Home by Lisa Scottoline
Buy Come Home by Lisa Scottoline at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: Jill's former step daughter is back in her life, but will she risk everything to listen to do what she asks?
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 384	Date: March 2013
Publisher: Ebury Press
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0091944933
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You divorce a partner, not a child, so although Jill and William’s split meant she was no longer legal step mum to his daughter Abby, in some ways she never stopped seeing her as a daughter. Now, years after they last met up, Abby shows up on Jill’s doorstep with some devastating news about Jill’s ex-husband. News that will unsettle both their lives, and the lives of Jill’s new fiancé Sam, and of her own biological daughter. While Abby wants to pull her into untangling a mystery, Sam is reluctant to encourage this investigation, and the family reunion it will bring, leaving Jill torn between her new family and her old one.

This is a complex thriller that combines family drama with all together more dangerous affairs. Jill is so torn because she was a mother figure to Abby for so many years, that to turn her back on her now feels like turning her back on her own child. And yet in doing so, she risks the stability and happiness of her true daughter, and their household. It’s hard to be a step-parent, and even harder if the relationship ends and you’re forced apart from children to whom you’ve grown close, but when they leave and go off into the world, you have little control over what they become, as Jill finds out. The Abby who returns to her life is not the Abby who left back then, and the transformation has been a dangerous one.

I liked the story of the book as it had lots of intrigue and suspense, but I found the writing style a little too intense. I struggled to get into the first chapter, and although it did pick up, the wordiness continued, meaning it was a book I had to concentrate on, rather than read casually. I didn’t really warm to Jill or Abby, so I was less motivated to keep up with their exploits, though I liked Sam from the start. My main issue with Jill was how she seemed willing to drop everything and run to Abby’s aid. It would have been different had this not had repercussions for Megan and Sam, but since it did it seemed a bit flippant of her, almost as is she were choosing a favourite between two of her children, and blatantly so.

This book made me consider the kids of serial marrying parents (Jill is about to embark on her 3rd) and what happens to them when their parents’ relationships come and go. For that, it was interesting, as it’s not something I’ve come across in any other recent reads. At the same time, I thought there was a bit too much drama for one story – too many stories straight out of a Oh my gosh it happened to me women’s weekly. I felt it was ruined a little bit by all the action, and had it been scaled back just a smidge, I feel my overall opinion would have been higher.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

I've nothing against family dramas that combine with criminal activities or legal battles, but I prefer ones that are slightly easier to read, for example the works of Jodi Picoult.

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