Ron Baird's Blog - Posts Tagged "-chicklit"
Lisa Unger's "Die For You": Chick lit or mystery? Both. Neither. It doesn't matter because it works.
Rated: Four stars.
I'm not a fan of novels about dysfunctional families. But I am a fan of crime fiction. Her earlier novels have different degrees of both. But "Die For You" comes down a little more solid on the crime elements, and the family disfunction elements make it work and helps the book transcend either genre.
Isabel Raine is a successful crime novelist and has been married to a loving husband for five years. One day he disappears and takes the money of both her and her sister's families.
She's emotionally devastated but quickly her ability to write about crime directs her to solve the mystery. Which is good because nobody else seems to care, at least until they realize two families' money is all gone.
The answer seems to be as twisted as a Gordian knot. But as she unwinds the strands of truth and lies, it becomes clear she's threatening something a lot more dangerous than she realizes.
But she can't stop because, more than the money, she has to find out how she could live with and love a man who's actually a total stranger.
One of the things I like most about the book is that Unger doesn't resort to a device that many female mystery writers (Edna Buchanan, Nevada Barr et al.) use of including a scene in which the protagonist does something so utterly lame brained that you just want to reach out and slap her.
I'll be looking for her next book to see if she keeps getting better.
I'm not a fan of novels about dysfunctional families. But I am a fan of crime fiction. Her earlier novels have different degrees of both. But "Die For You" comes down a little more solid on the crime elements, and the family disfunction elements make it work and helps the book transcend either genre.
Isabel Raine is a successful crime novelist and has been married to a loving husband for five years. One day he disappears and takes the money of both her and her sister's families.
She's emotionally devastated but quickly her ability to write about crime directs her to solve the mystery. Which is good because nobody else seems to care, at least until they realize two families' money is all gone.
The answer seems to be as twisted as a Gordian knot. But as she unwinds the strands of truth and lies, it becomes clear she's threatening something a lot more dangerous than she realizes.
But she can't stop because, more than the money, she has to find out how she could live with and love a man who's actually a total stranger.
One of the things I like most about the book is that Unger doesn't resort to a device that many female mystery writers (Edna Buchanan, Nevada Barr et al.) use of including a scene in which the protagonist does something so utterly lame brained that you just want to reach out and slap her.
I'll be looking for her next book to see if she keeps getting better.
