Ponder Post: Look Again, Save Me

Two novels, Look Again (©2010) and Save Me (©2011) both by Lisa Scottoline, were packaged in one binding in a book I impulse purchased at Costco. They both had premises that intrigued me, though I preferred Look Again. Each was centered around a mother/child relationship but both turned into detective type investigative thrillers as the novel progressed.

In Look Again, journalist Ellen Gleeson comes home one day to find in her mail a flyer for abducted children – the Have You Seen Me? kind where a photo has been digitally aged to represent how a child would have changed to look since his/her loss or abduction. She is taken aback when the photo bears a striking resemblance to her adopted son. She sets out to investigate if the child in the photo is indeed the boy she legally adopted three years ago. Then she asks herself, if he is that child, what does she do? Does she turn him over to the rightful parents he has never known or does she slip away to somewhere where they can continue to live in each other's joyful company, undetected by the ongoing search? It is a dilemma that is indeed a nightmare for any parent! Before embarking on the angst associated with making such a decision, Ellen is convinced she must know the truth and only then can she face the gut-wrenching task of deciding how to deal with it. The clandestine investigative methods she used in this book are creative. The plot makes several twists and turns, some of which are scary, some heartrending; all are engaging and draw you deeply into caring about the characters. I would definitely put this novel on your to-read list.

In Save Me, mom Rose McKenna is on volunteer lunch duty in her daughter's school cafeteria when there is an explosion. Raging fire, dense smoke, and collapsing beams make for a danger-packed environment befitting any disaster movie. Most of the children have already gone out to the playground but four children remain – Rose's daughter, Melly, and three other little girls who have been teasing and bullying Melly because of a birthmark on her face. When the explosion occurs the four girls are not in the same place. Melly happened to be in bathroom, warily hiding out from her three tormenters, while the other three were still in the lunchroom being mildly reprimanded by Melly's mom before being dismissed for lunch recess. Given the chaotic situation, can Rose successfully rescue all of them? Is she biased toward saving her own daughter first? This was an intriguing confluence of circumstances that drew my interest.

This book had too many conflicts in it to be believable, almost as if the author could not decide which plot trail to pursue. Was the fire accidental, negligence, arson, or a planned cover-up? Would there be corporate crime? Would there be political coverup? Would there be bullying? Would the ever-present angst of having an unsupportive husband be key? Would there be criminal and/or civil legal charges because of Roses performance during the crisis? Would a neighborhood vendetta's materialize because of her actions, in reality optimized to make the best of a dire situation. I think there was also someone  in the book with cancer or some other disease, too. Maybe not. There were too many clashes to focus and remember them all. Which would be red herrings? I felt like the book had not been edited before being published. Although it was a page turner, I would definitely put this novel on the bottom of my to-read list to tackle when nothing better is waiting before it.