And When She Was Good

Jan 31, 2013 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Honestly, I never know how to rate a book when I don't like the main character. If the story is interesting (it was...) and it keeps my interest (it did....), I should probably give it 4 or 5 stars. But I find Heloise to be just unlikable. She comes across as aloof, unsympathetic and self-pitying. She seems to think she's smarter than everyone else.

While Helen/Heloise is in high school, her verbally abusive jerk of a father insists she go get a job. This job leads her down a twisted and ugly pa...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Mickey (I'm A Book Shark) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Adult fiction fans

Shelves: 2012, blog-tour

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Laura Lippman's Tess series is one I've read in the past. I've never tried her stand-alone work, and I'm always game for a good stand-alone. Especially an adult one. I read a lot of YA fiction, but this is a GREAT adult novel to pick up! I might say that this would make a great book club novel. It has great themes and discussion elements. It's addicting and curious. It wasn't predictable in the way that I knew how it would all play out, though I did guess at a couple things...more

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May 07, 2013 Christa Sgobba rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was really intrigued by the synopsis of this book, but was a little put off by the mediocre reviews. I'm glad I trusted my gut, because this one was a good read.

This book is pretty much a fictional account of the Upper East Side Madam--just sub in Baltimore suburbs for New York City. It alternates between present day, where Heloise is struggling to keep her lucrative business producing while hiding it from her 12-year-old son, and the past, where we learn how she changed from an earnest, strai...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this unusual little book! I just pulled off the shelf at my local library; I thought that perhaps I had read something else by this author, Laura Lippman, but it turns out I did not.

The story begins with a young girl who is verbally and occasionally abused by her dad, and whose mom chooses the dad over the mom. Helen gets a job in a local restaurant, meets a man, moves in with him, finds out he is an addict, and is rescued by another man. Eventually she creates a high-end, carefully desi...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Mitch Duckworth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maybe I’m guilty. Okay. LL could write spit and I’d call it transcendent.

That said, I have to admit, re AWSWG,there are one or two little nagging elements about several characters that bothered me, badass pimp Val and his previously undisclosed Filipino common-law wife living upstate with whom he has three children. She is—we are asked to believe without question—an incredibly unsophisticated foreign-born woman who believes for over ten years, that her very bad husband is trapped overseas becau...more Maybe I’m guilty. Okay. LL could write spit and I’d call it transcendent.

That said, I have to admit, re AWSWG, there are one or two little nagging elements about several characters that bothered me, badass pimp Val and his previously undisclosed Filipino common-law wife living upstate with whom he has three children. She is—we are asked to believe without question—an incredibly unsophisticated foreign-born woman who believes for over ten years, that her very bad husband is trapped overseas because of a false conspiracy that makes it impossible for him to return to the US legally. Yes. He is trapped and society is the better for it. He’s serving a life sentence for a murder he committed. The little Filipino wife never thought of trying to visit him overseas? For over a decade—for over ten-plus years and she never thought it odd that maybe he could travel to Montreal for a quiet weekend for a tearful reunion with she and the kids? The infrequent and monitored telephone calls never raised an eyebrow? Unless Val’s heretofore private-life wife is extremely dysfunctional, it would seem to me that we could expect a woman with responsibilities for raising three children in contemporary America to acclimate to life more quickly than she evidently had.

Even with now twenty-year old technology, she would have had to have been sophisticated enough to ask those questions herself; the kids would have educated her. They would have instructed their mother and taught her American English everyday.

Questions do arise in the readers’ minds: the porous international borders serviced by the biggest luxury airliners with the most comfortable first-class cabins of any fleets in the pre-9/11 international routes international air carriers? Really.) The history of another minor character rang untrue, and occasionally, events surrounding plot-turning action seemed illogical or unlikely. In a lesser writer, the nagging I felt as I read a paragraph here and there would have signaled an impending derailment, and probably a complete rupture in the suspension of disbelief. The end. I would have finished a long time before the concluding words of the story on the printed page. I would have closed the book and turned to my shelf. Next!

None of that matters with LL. I just read on, a damned happy and more than willing passenger in the capable hands of a modern master, a former full-time beat journalist on a major metropolitan newspaper, a decade and more ago now, when major cities had major newspapers (plural). LL is a thoroughly modern twenty-first century woman, and family oriented mother; she has seen an awful lot of life in her just-barely-fifty years. She is more than a little knowledgeable about the surprising twists, the poor choices, the bad luck, and the unexpected speed bumps in the everyday life of the modern American, and she is keenly aware of the proximity of life’s dark underbelly. She knows what a brush with the criminal element can mean to a well ordered life, and understands the complexities of the human psyche lurking just beneath our skins, even in the suburbs of Baltimore.

I always know (or believe I know) what I’m going to read next, and I always know how much I liked a book when I am at its end. If I’m particularly saddened by finishing the last page, and the act of closing the cover seems painful, distressing even, I have been blown away by something extraordinary. What I will read next sometimes changes based on how I feel at the end of each book. I want either something complimentary, or something completely different.

And When She Was Good is a wonderful book, despite the few objections noted above, and they were trivial offenses, which I can forgive. Just as with every one of her novels, I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Seriously, it may not be her finest, but still, having said all that, it is one damned satisfying read. Happy page turning!
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Feb 08, 2013 Doris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Helen/Heloise is a prostitute, running an illegal business behind several shadow businesses. She has a son, whom she loves dearly, but no close family and no friends, which is how she likes it.

Unfortunately the desire to cut everyone off means that she has no support group – how can a madam be friends with her "stable", or with her clientele, and since those are the only people she deals with regularly, she has no social skills other than those associated with her "work". She has a shady account...more Helen/Heloise is a prostitute, running an illegal business behind several shadow businesses. She has a son, whom she loves dearly, but no close family and no friends, which is how she likes it.

Unfortunately the desire to cut everyone off means that she has no support group – how can a madam be friends with her "stable", or with her clientele, and since those are the only people she deals with regularly, she has no social skills other than those associated with her "work". She has a shady accountant, an ill worker, a police officer who looks the other way out of gratitude for a past favor (which seems highly unlikely to me), and does not participate in her son's school activities unless it's something at which she can throw money.

However, the main issue I had with the story is not that Helen/Heloise is unlikable, but that the book switches back and forth in the timeline, making it difficult to keep up. At one point we are reading about her childhood and her verbally abusive father, then we read about current events, and back to the past and how she got into hooking, then to the future and so on.

From her treatment by her idiotic father, her mother's indifference, and her inability to make friends, she falls into the life of vice, but by the time we are introduced to her, she is a very successful businesswoman, with contacts in government and big business. Unfortunately, she discovers this does not make her well liked or even respected by those in the know, and her general cluelessness about life, how to interact with people, and her lack, at 37, of any friends, made it difficult to relate to her.

The murder mystery took a background to all this, but was still central, as the ones dying were all, like Helen/Heloise, madams in a suburban area. Through this mystery we get introduced to some of the other people in her life, but we never really know them either.

I did like that this mystery, while it has an adult theme, did not cross over that line into the specifics of the business, only touching on the actual details in an oblique way, and even then only occasionally. I did like getting to know her, and how she built herself up. I thought she treated herself a little too much as a "poor little me" at times, especially when referencing her father, but at the same time, saw how a sensitive child who does not relate well to others could be deeply and permanently affected by his indifference.

The details of her world were murky, but the business of building a business was well done. I read another book (by Ed McBain) dealing in the same way with the same topic, and enjoyed seeing that this was treated in a similar fashion. I liked that while she was in a business that could totally dehumanize someone, she was able to love so deeply, and with all its flaws, including her preoccupation with the bad influences people, generally male, have had on her life, she was a good person, just sort of clueless in dealing with people.

(view spoiler)

There are several scenes where she is seen as outspoken on women's issues, referencing the Bible, suggesting that prostitution should be legalized, and getting into a coffee shop discussion on an urban belief that only losers use prostitutes. Overall, this book had many places where the thought that maybe prostitutes are not all that bad comes through.

All that said - the ending was worth the wait! I think this book will be a reread. (less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Attila Cthulhuson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's been a while since I've read a mystery meant for adults, as evidenced by my surprise that the novel spent so much time character and world building as opposed to having someone clue-hunting. In fact, I tended to forget it was a mystery.

I enjoyed seeing Heloise's world -- specifically hearing how she built her business -- as well as her history and how generally awesome she was for getting where she was (successful in business, able to support her child, able to have good friends without nee...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

Heloise is a single mom living in a nice suburban neighbourhood. Smart and good looking her neighbours have no problem believing that she is a lobbyist. How else could she afford the lifestyle she is living? The truth is Heloise had a rough start to her life and was introduced very early on to the world of drugs and prostitution. Instead of letting it drag her under, she made use of her talents and now is a madam in her own highly successful escort service. Her former boyfriend/pimp is behind ba...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mj-book-club-august-2012-july-2013

Laura Lippman's latest title And When She Was Good<\i> is a bit of a misnomer as Heloise, a.k.a. Helen Lewis, the protagonist is rarely good. Her choices are almost all self-destructive. Small town girl, smart, averagely pretty, from a dysfunctional family loses her virginity and all self-worth to the first guy that looks her way and pursues her. Desperate to escape a disproving father who quashes every hope or dream she dares to have while he uses his fists to make his points, Helen drops...more Laura Lippman's latest title And When She Was Good<\i> is a bit of a misnomer as Heloise, a.k.a. Helen Lewis, the protagonist is rarely good. Her choices are almost all self-destructive. Small town girl, smart, averagely pretty, from a dysfunctional family loses her virginity and all self-worth to the first guy that looks her way and pursues her. Desperate to escape a disproving father who quashes every hope or dream she dares to have while he uses his fists to make his points, Helen drops out of school, runs off with the lame guy whose "big plan" involves Heloise dancing in a strip club until he can make a score. One thing leads to another and pretty soon Helen is turning tricks and in deep to a pimp who is a nasty bad guy with a strangely skewed moral compass. Then Helen discovers she's pregnant and sees a chance to get out by turning evidence against the pimp, also the father of the child, in a murder charge. Fast forward twelve years, Helen has become Heloise, is a devoted mother, and runs a successful business in a tony suburb of Baltimore. And while her business has a respectable name, it is a facade. Turns out Helen's big break wasn't much of a break. And now, all of the skeletons in the closet are beginning to rattle around threatening to tumble her delicately constructed house of cards.

The plot had some good moments of tension but ultimately failed to deliver crackling suspense and intrigue. It was completely predictable, featured a character that you could not connect with and failed to offer a satisfying denouement. If you were to diagram the plot arc, you would not see a consistent upward tic to the ultimate conflict but rather a lot of zigs and long plateaus. I could live with not liking the protagonist, respecting the deep flaws that would surely divide us were we to meet in the real world. But, I can't reconcile the disappointment with the lack of real conflict and character growth. And, ultimately, I thought Lippman might make a novel, compelling argument in favor of the oldest profession on earth, but she only trotted out the same old adages. I failed to connect to the Heloise who overcame Herculean bad odds, instead seeing her as a victim of poor choices over which she constantly asserted she had no control. To that I say, "Baloney."

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Nov 26, 2012 Rebecca Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really want to give this one a 4.5 because it was so very entertaining. Yes, there is more than one murder and more than one mystery here, but it's the protagonist at its heart, Heloise, who kept my interest. I see that other reviewers say they didn't like the book because they didn't like her. What I found very involving about the book is the way my feelings changed about her over time. They were positive at first (young woman makes the best of a really bad situation)--Heloise (or Helen) is s...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Barbara Bryant rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to say I thought this book was a lot of nothing. I try to read Lippman once in a while because my friend likes her, but I noticed that she didn't like this either. That the story of this woman is a little preposterous (after a sad younger life with no prospects and nothing but trouble, her man helps her to start a "lobbying" business in Maryland--a front for a prostitution ring of the higher orders), is only part of the problem.

The story could have been made into a pretty good read but th...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Lori Anaple rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, contemp-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Just when you think you have it all figured out, look around you and discover that you don't. That pretty much is the essence of this book. I found it compelling. The characters were well crafted and the writing was good. The only thing really holding me back from a 5 star rating is that WOW factor you get when you read a really great book. I liked it a lot. I didn't love it.

Heloise/Helen is interesting to me. I could never live her life, and not just because she is a prostitute. More because I...more Just when you think you have it all figured out, look around you and discover that you don't. That pretty much is the essence of this book. I found it compelling. The characters were well crafted and the writing was good. The only thing really holding me back from a 5 star rating is that WOW factor you get when you read a really great book. I liked it a lot. I didn't love it.

Heloise/Helen is interesting to me. I could never live her life, and not just because she is a prostitute. More because I can't imagine a life as completely void of intimacy as hers. Yes, she has sex, but no one really knows her. She has a son, has her clients, has her employees, has her church circle, but the closest she has to someone who has a foot in both of her worlds is her Au Pair. I really liked the back story that is told in flashback chapters. It gives us the story of Helen and how she became Heloise.

Heloise thinks she is smart and thinks she has a good read on people. She lives in fear of Val (a pimp that she put away for murder) getting out of prison and killing her. Partly because of her fear, she visits him on a regular basis. Also partly, I believe, she in a warped way enjoys his company now more than she did when he was physically in control of her. She says that she never underestimates him, but boy does she ever!

I like the issues that this book discusses. You get the parent/child relationship; why forgiveness is important, especially when you yourself have children. You get the superiority complex that eventually reveals that you aren't as smart as you think you are. You get the privacy issue, thinking that you have created this persona that neighbors and acquaintances buy into only to find out that they don't buy it as well as you think they do.

Boiled down to it's bones, it is a journey of awakening. The suspense part is quite predictable, but it didn't bother me. I don't think it is the best thing I have ever read, but it certainy is the best thing I have read in a long while.(less)

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Oct 02, 2012 Sandi rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, audiobooks, mystery-thriller

I've read two other books by Laura Lippman and really enjoyed them. I was really looking forward to her latest stand-alone novel, but ended up disappointed. It's supposed to be a suspense/mystery/thriller, but it offered little of any of those things. It starts off well enough. A madam in a suburban neighborhood is murdered. Heloise Lewis debates a woman in a store who thinks the madam was asking to be murdered. We find out fairly quickly that the reason Heloise jumps to the dead woman's defense...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Suzyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-didn-t-suck

I read someplace recently that Chuck Palahniuk completely owns the "unreliable narrator" trope. This book reminded me that there are lots of ways to do an "unreliable narrator" and Palahniuk, never a subtle guy, did an especially dramatic one, but hardly the have-all end-all.

One expects honesty from a literary hooker and dishonesty from a literary suburbanite and Lippman's character Heloise Lewis is both. The dualism of the suburban hooker is a major theme here, and resolving her identity is th...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. And When She Was Good is a story about Helen/Heloise who starts out as a teen in an abusive home, becomes involved with an older man who turns out to be a drug addict and leads her into the life of prostitution, and she eventually sets up an escort service and tries to make a good life for her young son.

It made it more interesting and suspenseful that Heloise didn't seem to know herself very well. It became clearer throughout the book that she's not as smart or as good as she would like to belie...more And When She Was Good is a story about Helen/Heloise who starts out as a teen in an abusive home, becomes involved with an older man who turns out to be a drug addict and leads her into the life of prostitution, and she eventually sets up an escort service and tries to make a good life for her young son.

It made it more interesting and suspenseful that Heloise didn't seem to know herself very well. It became clearer throughout the book that she's not as smart or as good as she would like to believe.

She misses several questionable things - an employee lying about her medical status, as well as Terry's identity and intentions. She thinks people don't notice things that they noticed all along - Even Bettina the drug addict knew that Heloise was reading books when she thought it was a secret from everyone. She thinks the neighbors don't know about her business. It seems likely they would find out at some point, or guess, especially after she quits the escort business and does errands for many of her former clients' wives. She thinks her son is really sweet - what's the truth there?

She feels safe at the end when she's likely to be in danger still. It seems likely that Val might have had a second person on the outside to take care of his family and do his business if something happened to his brother. Apparently that doesn't occur to Heloise because she's content to stay in the same house and keep the same name and work with almost the same people. Is it really a happy ending?

Throughout she seems to think she's better than everyone else. She blames her work as a prostitute/madam on her father, mother, Billy and Val. There wasn't a point where she really took responsibility for her life - even after Val was arrested, she didn't take the opportunity to really get away from him, go back to school, and get a legal job. It seems like she likes being a sex worker but doesn't want anyone to know about it. She neglects to protect people that she knows will be hurt by Val. She seems remorseful afterwards, but she's also counting up how many she's responsible for and how many Val is responsible for killing, as if that makes it better. She also thinks she's doing a much better job with her son than her mother did with her. Her expectations of what his life will be like may be unrealistic.

Heloise didn't seem all that smart or good to me, but that's part of what made the book so interesting, and many people are not as smart or as good as they'd like to believe, regardless of whether they're in a legal profession or not. There's plenty to think about regarding whether sex work should be legal, and how young women get into that life and how difficult it may be for them to get out of it. (less)

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Sep 07, 2012 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

And When She Was Good, by Laura Lippman, a-minus, Narrated by Linda Emond, Produced by harper Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.

This is a stand-alone in which Helen, an abused highschool girl, leaves home and becomes part of an escort service. But when she finds she is pregnant, she turns in her handler/pimp for murder and he is convicted to life with no parole. Helen becomes Helloise and runs her own escort service with the cover of being a lobbyist. She does very well until a “madam” in the n...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Mark Rubinstein rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Heloise runs a prostitution ring in suburban Baltimore. She comes from a deprived background with a verbally abusive father and a passive mother. Having escaped her beginnings, she has, by virtue of grit, brains and determination, made herself into a sophisticated woman who has a young son and who lives quite well. Unfortunately, her son's father is in prison and is Heloise's former pimp and ringmaster. He doesn't know Heloise is the mother of his child.

Heloise (formerly known as Helen) leads an...more Heloise runs a prostitution ring in suburban Baltimore. She comes from a deprived background with a verbally abusive father and a passive mother. Having escaped her beginnings, she has, by virtue of grit, brains and determination, made herself into a sophisticated woman who has a young son and who lives quite well. Unfortunately, her son's father is in prison and is Heloise's former pimp and ringmaster. He doesn't know Heloise is the mother of his child.

Heloise (formerly known as Helen) leads an intricately mapped double life, not only because she's in the business she's in, but because she visits Val (the father of her son) in prison, and still pays him a substantial percentage of her earnings, because she must. He has connections on the outside, and peril awaits Heloise if she should meander from her incredibly successful business model, some of which she's garnered from her former work for Val, and from businesses like Amazon and eBay.

Heloise is quite clever, is self- educated, (intelligent beyond her formal education) knows the ropes, and can read people very well. When a madame in another county is discovered dead (murdered) things become dangerous for Heloise, and the life she has so painstakingly constructed comes under threat of exposure. Or worse: she's afraid that she may become a target as well. At 37, she must cope with a threat to her life and to the secrets she holds--from Val, from her son (who thinks his father died before he was even born) and secrets she holds from the entire community.

Heloise's situation becomes more tenuous when another prostitute (and former worker for Val) is found dead. Heloise must decide what (if anything) to do, especially when a former employee attempts to blackmail her. The tension mounts and Heloise's dilemma reaches frightening proportions.

The story, told in a hip, contemporary style, moves toward a harrowing conclusion and the reader comes to the conclusion that this is not so much a story about prostitution as it is about a bright, self-sufficient woman who rises above her humble and degrading origins and is a master at finding creative solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. Heloise is a true entrepreneur and at heart, a person with a conscience and a soul. Four and a half stars.(less)

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Sep 05, 2012 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Crime fiction is not a genre I frequently read, but I am a fan of the TV shows Weeds and Breaking Bad, so Laura Lippman's novel And When She Was Good, about a suburban single mom who runs a prostitution business, intrigued me. (I also live a block away from the place where a woman in NYC was accused of running a high-priced call girl ring.)

We meet teenage Helen, verbally abused by her unemployed father, a man separated from his wife and children, and living with Helen and her mother. He becomes...more Crime fiction is not a genre I frequently read, but I am a fan of the TV shows Weeds and Breaking Bad, so Laura Lippman's novel And When She Was Good, about a suburban single mom who runs a prostitution business, intrigued me. (I also live a block away from the place where a woman in NYC was accused of running a high-priced call girl ring.)

We meet teenage Helen, verbally abused by her unemployed father, a man separated from his wife and children, and living with Helen and her mother. He becomes more and more erratic and Helen becomes involved with the son of the owner of the restaurant where she works to make money for college.

The boyfriend is a troubled guy, a drug user, and convinces Helen to run away with him. Helen ends up working at a strip club and eventually as a prostitute. She trades in the bad boyfriend for Val, who is even worse, a serious pimp with a bad temper and a gun. When Val kills a man and Helen becomes pregnant, she plots her escape.

Flash forward and Helen is now Heloise, living in the suburbs and raising her twelve-year-old son. She is also running an internet prostitution ring, along with the help of her au pair/assistant Audrey. The only other person she can count on is Tom, a cop who knows what she does and protects her because she once helped him.

Heloise keeps a low profile:
"She always stands apart on the soccer field, her conversations with the other mothers polite yet fleeting. She's not sure whose fault that is. She stopped trying to figure out if she's standoffish because other mothers snub her or if she's snubbed because the other mothers sense she's standoffish. For the most part, she tells herself that's she's happy for their neglect... True, she encourages incuriosity in most people. Yet it's still hurtful to see how easily people fall into line with one's desire to be ignored."
When another suburban madam's murder is made to look like suicide, and Heloise discovers that the man she put behind bars may be getting out of prison and one of her former employees tries to blackmail her, things begin to fall apart.

And When She Was Good is a page-turner of a novel, with twists and turns, and you will read it in one sitting. Helen is a tough, smart, resourceful lady, but like Walter White from Breaking Bad and Nancy Botwin from Weeds, Helen sees a secret life of crime as her only solution to the problem of making enough money to support her family, but also like them, she discovers that her decision is bound to catch up with her.

The writing is crisp, the characters (even the minor ones) interesting, and the tension ratchets up with each turn of the page. I chewed off more than a few fingernails by the end. (I know, a bad habit) Lippman writes a crackling good novel, and I will be looking for more of her books when I'm in the mood for crime fiction.
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Sep 02, 2012 A. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Heloise used to be a common prostitute for Val, but when she is faced with having Val's child she makes decisions that will impact her for the next decade. She does this all for her child, determined to give a better childhood than she experienced. She thinks that she has left the brutality of the street behind for her own carefully constructed and discreet high-paid escort service. She runs the show and lives well now. When another suburban madam is murdered, she doesn't think much about it - u...more Heloise used to be a common prostitute for Val, but when she is faced with having Val's child she makes decisions that will impact her for the next decade. She does this all for her child, determined to give a better childhood than she experienced. She thinks that she has left the brutality of the street behind for her own carefully constructed and discreet high-paid escort service. She runs the show and lives well now. When another suburban madam is murdered, she doesn't think much about it - until she realizes that woman was from her past. Her new life, meant to provide the best for her child, is beginning to fall apart.

The story is told in both the present and Heloise's past. The reader is filled in about her history as the Heloise in the present deals with her life unraveling. That caused confusion once or twice, but mostly this technique allows the reader to see what in her past is influencing her present fear and decisions.

Heloise is a complex character. She is a loner, street smart as well as self taught from books and online classes. Most of all, she is a survivor and determined. She will do most anything for her child. I rarely read a book where I feel like I have stepped into the main character's life. This is one of them. Val, her pimp for many years, and the father of her child, is more than just a thug. He is intelligent and a ruthless, opportunistic businessman who has not let go of his hold on her. Beth, her pathetic mother, is equally well crafted.

The small town Heloise grows up in, the large house where Val keeps the prostitutes corralled, and even Heloise's suburban home are richly detailed. The plot is spot on and the pacing builds to the climax. There were plot twists and surprises. I found myself telling Heloise what to do, not out of frustration with a poorly written character, but because I had become vested in her predicament. The wrap up was satisfying.

This was my first Laura Lippman (incredible as that seems) and I have to say I was surprised. Initially, I was not sure about the premise of prostitution for an enjoyable story. But Ms. Lippman expertly builds a believable tale of a woman who was dealt a bad life and engages the reader to root for her as she meets challenges and danger.

Rating: Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend. If you can tolerate the swearing and prostitution in general, this is really that good. If you are more sensitive towards these, consider reading a chapter or two and gauge your reaction.

Obtained Through: TLC Book Tour/Publisher
Mysteries and My Musings Blog http://www.mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/(less)

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Sep 01, 2012 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

Heloise Lewis is the proprietor of an escort service whose clients tend to be Washington politicians. She is also a single mother to Scott, a preteen. She has been able to keep her private and professional lives separate so she can build a safe world for her son, but that world starts crumbling. Prostitutes who worked for Val, Heloise’s former pimp, die and Heloise suspects they have been murdered and wonders if she might be next. Will she be able to reinvent herself and begin a new life?

In many...more Heloise Lewis is the proprietor of an escort service whose clients tend to be Washington politicians. She is also a single mother to Scott, a preteen. She has been able to keep her private and professional lives separate so she can build a safe world for her son, but that world starts crumbling. Prostitutes who worked for Val, Heloise’s former pimp, die and Heloise suspects they have been murdered and wonders if she might be next. Will she be able to reinvent herself and begin a new life?

In many ways the book is not really a thriller; the pacing initially is rather slow for a suspense novel. The book is more of a character study, albeit a flawed one. Through flashbacks we learn about how Heloise found herself following this particular lifestyle, and she becomes someone for whom we have compassion. She is indeed not perfect; she herself says, “It was a toss-up who had caused more damage in the world, she or Val.” She is, however, a survivor whose priority is her son. She is an intelligent and astute woman, although there are a couple of instances where she inexplicably fails to recognize people’s true motives. The other problem is that she continues to visit Val, who is in prison for murder, even though she fears him and hides from him the fact that she bore his child. Why she doesn’t cut all ties is not convincingly explained.

The characterization is good in that Heloise is developed into a dynamic character. For example, she is very judgmental of her mother, but eventually realizes, “She’s been a dupe, a sap. She is, in short, as unwitting as her own mother.” She recognizes another similarity: “It was never her intention to ruin anyone. She was only offering girls the same life she had fashioned for herself. Her mother, she realizes, could make the same realization.” In the end she forgives her mother, hoping that forgiveness has “transitive properties.”

The book explores a woman’s value in society. Heloise believes, “No one values her.” She takes this “painful lesson” and uses it to her advantage, deciding, “It doesn’t matter what others think she is worth. She sets the price.” The book is a worthwhile read for its addressing misconceptions about prostitutes and the challenges women face in a society which often demeans them.
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Sep 01, 2012 Sharonm rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Heloise is in a Starbucks as she eavesdrops on a couple discussing the apparent suicide of a modern-day suburban madam. This is news that has particular relevance to Heloise, and the following story deals with prostitution and politics, blackmail, and murder as Lippman explores whether it is possible to rise above the limitations that life imposes upon us. Heloise began life as Helen Lewis, and her early life with a bully of a father and a victim of a mother gave her little else to capitalize up...more Heloise is in a Starbucks as she eavesdrops on a couple discussing the apparent suicide of a modern-day suburban madam. This is news that has particular relevance to Heloise, and the following story deals with prostitution and politics, blackmail, and murder as Lippman explores whether it is possible to rise above the limitations that life imposes upon us. Heloise began life as Helen Lewis, and her early life with a bully of a father and a victim of a mother gave her little else to capitalize upon other than her looks. Her beauty gets her into trouble at the same time that it turns into a commodity she can sell.

The book is arranged in chapters that alternate between Heloise in the present and Helen in the past. As the two worlds converge, we see Heloise develop as a complex woman who struggles with the conflict between self-preservation and a desire to do the right thing. In the meantime, she builds strong business skills and protects her son conceived with her past pimp. In the present, she lives a double life, the two sides of which she attempts to keep completely separate: on the one hand running a successful prostitution business in the D.C. area, and on the other playing out the role of a suburban mother.

As the chapters dealing with the past work their way toward those dealing with the present, there is little that suggests a mystery beyond a vague sense of unease. The action explodes in the last 25 pages of the book, however. Heloise’s past truly catches up with her present, even as she is attempting to remake herself as a legitimate businesswoman, and Lippman answers the question of whether one can truly shake off the past in the desire to become the good person she wants to be.

I do not prefer the style of explication that Lippman uses in this book, as well as in all the others by her that I’ve read. We find out much of the detail of the mystery in a dialogue between characters as the action draws to a close. Too many facts that would have helped us understand the situation are withheld during the majority of the book, and then they are released all at once as one character talks to another. This criticism is a minor one in this book, however, since the mystery plays a minor role in the overarching story. The book is much more about whether it is possible to escape one’s past than it is about whether Heloise can escape the man who wants to murder her.

Heloise is an extremely well-drawn character. Even with all her faults and illegal acts, she is complex and I found her sympathetic. She thinks deeply about all aspects of her life. The ways in which she played with the cards that were dealt her made me wonder how I would have done. This was an excellent book, and I highly recommend it.
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Aug 31, 2012 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the first Laura Lippman book that I’ve read. I’ve heard so many other book lovers praise her other books, that I was really excited to get the chance to review this, but at the same time I was a little apprehensive due to the book being about a madam and prostitution. I shouldn’t have worried. the book doesn’t focus on sex. It’s about the love Heloise has for her son, the relationship between her and her parents, abuse, trust, everyday hardships, loving someone and thinking they loved y...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The opening sentence of Laura Lippman’s new standalone is nothing if not eye-catching: “Suburban Madam Dead in Apparent Suicide.” The newspaper headline read by Heloise [nee Helen] Lewis is especially attention-getting in that Heloise herself is in the same profession. The dead woman had been arrested eight months earlier and was a month out from trial.

The events that led Heloise to this place in her life are recounted in deftly placed flashbacks going back 20 years, basically telling of a fathe...more The opening sentence of Laura Lippman’s new standalone is nothing if not eye-catching: “Suburban Madam Dead in Apparent Suicide.” The newspaper headline read by Heloise [nee Helen] Lewis is especially attention-getting in that Heloise herself is in the same profession. The dead woman had been arrested eight months earlier and was a month out from trial.

The events that led Heloise to this place in her life are recounted in deftly placed flashbacks going back 20 years, basically telling of a father who was abusive, physically and mentally, and a mother who valued the man more than she did her own daughter. Perhaps the mental abuse inflicted upon her which resonated most, and longest, was her father’s comment that she had a “nothing face . . . not ugly, but not really pretty either. Unmemorable,” something that she found ultimately worked to her advantage and allowed her to “fade into the background.” Forced to quit school and start working to contribute to the household finances, Helen [her given name] finds herself in one abusive relationship after another, at some point becoming a “paid companion” [just one of the many euphemisms for sex worker], although she is now a registered lobbyist, she runs a high-class escort service, with many important men in the Baltimore/DC area among her regular clientele.

The most important thing to come out of her last liaison, with the pimp who initially set her up in her own business (now serving a life sentence for murder) is a son, eleven years old as the story opens, whose father knows nothing of his existence, despite the fact that Heloise visits him in jail bi-monthly. What he also does not know is that she was responsible for putting him behind bars.

The story unwinds at a gentle pace, with each chapter in Heloise’s life laid out in orderly fashion, all the pieces in place. That is, up until an ending which the author has meticulously fashioned, one which took me completely by surprise and had me racing through to the stunning denouement. As good as any of the excellent Tess Monaghan series books and standalones which preceded it, this newest book by Ms. Lippman is highly recommended.
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Aug 29, 2012 Augusta Scattergood added it · review of another edition

Totally enjoyed this mystery filled with plot twists and turns. I once heard Laura Lippman (at the amazing Writers in Paradise conference in St. Petersburg, FL, each January- great writing opportunity!) say she adopts the "distant shore" theory for her mysteries. I blogged about it here: http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2009...

For this complicated story, I'm very impressed if she knew the end as she wrote! I found the ending both surprising and satisfying, and not at all obvious.

For me, a favori...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Kari rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This is the first book by Ms. Lippman that I have read. I will admit that initially, I had a hard time getting into And When she Was Good. But as the book progressed, I was intrigued to find out what makes a woman choose to become a madam. I liked the way the story alternated between the past and the present. The author does a great job of showing the reader how Heloise evolves into "the mother" and "the madam". Heloise keeps her life ordered and compartmentalized. Few people know what she reall...more This is the first book by Ms. Lippman that I have read. I will admit that initially, I had a hard time getting into And When she Was Good. But as the book progressed, I was intrigued to find out what makes a woman choose to become a madam. I liked the way the story alternated between the past and the present. The author does a great job of showing the reader how Heloise evolves into "the mother" and "the madam". Heloise keeps her life ordered and compartmentalized. Few people know what she really does for a living. She manages to keep it all from her son and has been raising him in a nice, homey environment. The problem is that her normal life and her hidden life are slowly crashing together.

I think this book will be met with mixed feelings. The book is well written and the characters were very well fleshed out. I'm just not too sure many of them are likable. For me, that includes the main character. I could see how she made her early mistakes. Many abused, naive girls fall into situations that they can't find a way out of and I can understand that. What I didn't understand is why Heloise chose to stay in the life. She had several opportunities to make herself into something different. Many single mothers manage to go back to school and find jobs with which they can support their family. When she is making money as a madam, she chooses not to funnel it into an education for herself. I lost some respect for her because of this.

The subject of prostitution is a very controversial issue. Heloise feels she is providing a service, but how many families is she helping to tear apart when the husbands come to her? I had a hard time reconciling that in my mind. Despite all of that, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it. And When She Was Good is a book that I believe will be talked about for a long while. I did like the ending and I know it is a book that will stay with me for a long time. If you are a fan of Laura Lippman, give this new one a shot.(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, contemporary-fiction, family, women-s-fiction, children

Laura Lippman has moved way beyond her Tess Monaghan detective series (I would love to read more of these.) And When She Was Good goes to the extreme's of parental love. Heloise Lewis is a suburban madam with a young son whom she protects from the reality of her business. When her past threatens to intrude, she bravely develops an exit strategy.

Daughter of a cruel man and weak mother, Helen/Heloise runs away in her late teens to get married. The marriage never happens, and she is caught in the...more

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Aug 24, 2012 William Thomas rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The libraries around here are running low on audiobooks that appeal to me, so I picked one up by Laura Lippman. I didn't really know anything about her going into this, except that her books seem to be mystery/thriller based and I thought I'd go for it. I might never go for it again. I'm embarrassed I read this, and I'm embarrassed that she wrote it. I didn't even want to add it here, but I figured I would rate it on here because I did not shut it off and listened to the whole damn thing start t...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Hallie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Female protagonists in crime novels are wading into increasingly dark territory, and Helen Lewis in Laura Lippman’s new standalone “And When She Was Good” is no exception. Helen is a survivor who escaped from an abusive father and a submissive mother, only to find herself destitute and adrift. Uneducated but smart and beautiful, she reinvents herself as Heloise and sells what she has: herself.

As a high-priced call girl, she takes refuge with Val, a charismatic and brutal pimp whom she loves as m...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Krystal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Heloise has had a difficult past. Emotionally abused as a child, Heloise has used some of this abuse as a way to make herself stronger and to build up her "professional" life later on. While she appears to have a regular job and manages to be a wonderful mother, Heloise is working both by day and night. She is now a Madam and somewhat in control of her own situation. Unfortunately, outside forces will decide her fate if she doesn't figure out the mystery fast.

Heloise's character was nice enough,...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Kerry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, suspense, contemporary

Laura Lippman is one of my favorite authors; I can always count on her to deliver a solid thriller with a special combination of ordinary setting (Baltimore and its surroundings), superficially ordinary characters with extraordinary pasts, challenging and interesting perspectives, great pacing, and terrific writing. I enjoyed this book for all of those ingredients, but not as much as I normally do.

I found Helen/Heloise a difficult character to warm up to - not because I didn't like her or under...more Laura Lippman is one of my favorite authors; I can always count on her to deliver a solid thriller with a special combination of ordinary setting (Baltimore and its surroundings), superficially ordinary characters with extraordinary pasts, challenging and interesting perspectives, great pacing, and terrific writing. I enjoyed this book for all of those ingredients, but not as much as I normally do.

I found Helen/Heloise a difficult character to warm up to - not because I didn't like her or understand her or sympathize with her (I did), but, I think, because the modern Heloise has deliberately made herself aloof and isolated, and that's the character we spend a lot of time with initially. I learned from the Afterword that Lippman introduced Heloise/Helen in a couple of earlier short stories; perhaps if I'd had those backstories in my head my response would have been different. She is still a very interesting character, and I'll be thinking about her and her relationships with her mother and her son for quite a while.

I also found the pacing to be a bit slow for a suspense novel. I enjoyed reading about Helen/Heloise's life, and was intrigued with her relationship with Val - definitely one of those challenging perspectives Lippman is so good at presenting. But I never felt that buildup of tension and fear that keeps me, as a reader, both frantically turning pages and wanting to close my eyes so as to not see the killer jump out from behind the door. I knew who the killer was going to be pretty immediately. I knew who was going to be behind the attempt, and more or less why. And rather than being surprised by the timing, I could see by the page count that it had to happen soon because I was getting to the end of the book.

All this is by way of saying it's not my favorite Lippman. But a not-favorite-Lippman is still a darned good book, and I enjoyed it a great deal, if not as a suspense thriller, then as a really interesting character study that gave me lots of food for thought. (less)

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