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117th out of 401 books
—
296 voters
The Damage Done (Lily Moore Mystery #1)
by
Hilary Davidson (Goodreads Author)
Winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel
Lily Moore, a successful travel writer, fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia. But when Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath.
The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the bod...more
Lily Moore, a successful travel writer, fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia. But when Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath.
The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the bod...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
September 28th 2010
by Forge Books
(first published September 1st 2010)
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Mar 14, 2012
bookczuk
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
julia, Anna
Recommended to bookczuk by:
maria
Wow. A Crime novel and a debut work that was not only good, but crosses the line into great. Actually, "debut" isn't exactly accurate because Davidson has written non-fiction books, articles and short stories galore. And I'm hooked enough to want to go back and read them all. Seriously, if she can transport me to one of the places she wrote travel guides for like she transported me to New York and the worlds of Lily and Claudia, sign me up.
Here is a story about fractured families, emotional ties...more
Here is a story about fractured families, emotional ties...more
Last weekend while looking through the program at the Tucson Festival of Books, a description of Hilary Davidson caught my eye. She is a mystery writer who has had a career as a travel writer, and the protagonist of her Lily Moore series is - you guessed it - a travel writer. So I attended one of Hilary's panels and listened to her discuss the origins of her mysteries and various influences on the stories in each one. Having been a travel writer myself, I was hooked even before I bought "The Dam...more
I would actually give "The Damage Done" a 3.5. This isn't a high action mystery/thriller but it will keep you asking what's going to happen next. "The Damage Done" is as much about the relationship between 2 sisters as it is about the search for one of the sisters. Lily Moore flies from Spain to New York in a state of shock after receiving the news that her drug-addicted sister has been found dead in her bath tub, on New Year’s Day. Immediately, Lily is confronted with her dysfunctional family h...more
Lily is a travel writer who escaped to Spain leaving behind her sister, Claudia, an on again/off again (mostly on) drug addict, as well as a hovering, grasping fiance, Martin. She has been paying the rent on her New York apartment so that her sister wouldn't have to live on the streets. Claudia is the only relative she has. Both of their parents committed suicide. By the time Lily was in college and Claudia still in high school, both of their parents were gone. After a very long absence she retu...more
Hilary Davidson
The Damage Done (Forge 2010) introduces Lily Moore, a travel journalist who has been working on travel guides in Spain for the past year. Lilly is called back to New York City when the body of her younger sister Claudia, a recovering heroin addict who has been living in Lily’s apartment, is found drowned in the bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide. Lily can’t believe that Claudia killed herself and tries to convince the police on the way to the morgue to identify t...more
The Damage Done (Forge 2010) introduces Lily Moore, a travel journalist who has been working on travel guides in Spain for the past year. Lilly is called back to New York City when the body of her younger sister Claudia, a recovering heroin addict who has been living in Lily’s apartment, is found drowned in the bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide. Lily can’t believe that Claudia killed herself and tries to convince the police on the way to the morgue to identify t...more
(Author: Hilary Davidson; Mystery; Forge books; Hardcover $24.99)
I usually read for a short while before starting on my own writings because I find that it knocks loose the vocabulary in my brain. In that regard, "The Damage Done," by first time novelist Hilary Davidson, presented me with a slight problem... I kept blowing off my schedule to read just one more chapter of this gripping mystery.
After living in Spain for several months, Lily Moore, a travel writer and atypical Manhattanite, comes h...more
I usually read for a short while before starting on my own writings because I find that it knocks loose the vocabulary in my brain. In that regard, "The Damage Done," by first time novelist Hilary Davidson, presented me with a slight problem... I kept blowing off my schedule to read just one more chapter of this gripping mystery.
After living in Spain for several months, Lily Moore, a travel writer and atypical Manhattanite, comes h...more
This book was o.k. I thought a lot of the goings-on were more filler than enlightening. I've read Sister by Rosamund Lupton, and I found this book very like that one--sister living overseas called home because sister missing, presumed dead. The sister comes home to find police without many leads, the missing sister tangled in some dangerous strings, unclear on who to trust. In both titles the searching sister was "running away" from a fiance--both searchers unsure of the men in their lives--and...more
This was the first novel by Hilary Davidson and I was lucky enough to win a copy from Good Reads. It was interesting how she discussed the complexity of the relationship between the two sisters. The older sister, Lily Moore, did almost everything right and was a successful writer living abroad. The younger sister, Claudia, was a heroin addict and had tried to get off drugs many times. Lily feels protective of her younger sister even though she gets exasperated with her over her failure to rid he...more
Great debut novel. And from all the awards that THE DAMAGE DONE is getting, I'm not the only one who thinks this. Strong characterization, plotting, and dialogue. In fact, much of the story is told through dialogue, so the necessity for it to sing is essential for its effectiveness. And Davidson nails it.
The real strength of the story is Davidson's ability from the outset to defy convention. By not centering on the police, but making the "investigator" a relative, the story feels very personal,...more
The real strength of the story is Davidson's ability from the outset to defy convention. By not centering on the police, but making the "investigator" a relative, the story feels very personal,...more
I haven't been reading much lately, so it was nice to settle down to a well written crime novel. The story had many twists. The main character Lily is called home from living in Spain when she is informed her only living family member, Claudia, has died. Claudia is a long time drug addict and has a very troubled life. It turns out to not be Claudia but someone who has been passing herself off as Claudia for months. Lily did tend to do some pretty foolish things in trying to figure out what was g...more
I liked this book which is a debut novel by Hilary Davidson. The lead character is a travel writer who has fled to Spain to avoid dealing with her drug-addicted sister. But family is family, and the latter is allowed to live in the travel agent's appartment in New York. One day the corpse of the sister is discovered in the apartment and the police contact the sister in Spain. She arrives in NYC and when asked to identify her sister, she tells the police that corpse is no one she recognizes.
And...more
And...more
Excellent . . .a page turner. I enjoyed the flawed heroine and the cop Bruxton (a pit bull disguised as a man). Interesting plot twists. Recommended!
Intriguing, that’s the best word to describe this book. When I first started reading it, I was totally captured and enthralled, wanting to know what exactly happened to Claudia, having numerous theories of my own. As the mystery unravels, we get deeper and deeper into the haunting pasts of many of the characters and my own theories of what happened were constantly in flux. By the time I got to the end, I realized just how complex Davidson’s plot is and how emotionally invested I have become in t...more
Lily Moore is a travel writer living in Barcelona when she's called back to NYC because her sister, Claudia, has died. The mystery begins when Lily sees the body at the morgue and it's not her sister's. Her sister goes from victim to posible suspect and Lily works with the police and her friends to trace her sister's activities. Since her sister was a heroin addict, the people and places aren't always the nicest. Lily revisits her childhood traumas and deals with guilt over abandoning Claudia wh...more
Lily Moore returns from Spain to find that her sister, Claudia is missing. And then a body is found at Lily's apartment , where Claudia has been staying. The body looks like Claudia but it turns out it is an impersonator. And now the story begins. Lily will do anything to find her sister.....still she suspects that Claudia may really be dead. Lily has some friends and an ex-fiance who volunteer to help. The police are called off the case , once there seems to be no way to identify the body in Li...more
Oct 23, 2011
Sheila Beaumont
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
adult-fiction,
mysteries-suspense-thrillers
I really enjoyed this riveting, twisty mystery/thriller, which has one of the most fascinating assortments of complex characters, including many of dubious repute, I've come across lately. I tend to go for complicated plots that involve mistaken identities and the like, so this was just my cuppa tea. I did have one favorite person, Lily's good friend Jesse, who is the most sensible, stable, and good-humored of the cast of characters. I thought it was fun the way he likened Lily to Miss Marple. T...more
Award winning (Best First Mystery, Anthony Awards, 2011) mystery. Travel writer Lily Moore is called home from Spain to New York City when her younger, drug-addicted sister is found dead on the anniversary of their mother's suicide. But the body in the morgue turns out to be an imposter who'd assumed Claudia's identity months before. Where is the real Claudia? Lily's search for her sister, aided and abetted by her best friend and two of New York's slighly rogue finest, leads her into many strang...more
Superb. It has the lean grit of Lawrence Block's good novels and a sophisticated storyline that reminded me of European graphic novel Blake & Mortimer. It would make a great animation movie, I think. Lily's a well studied mix of a career-driven women and a scorned little girl looking for her family. Davidson is very subtle about that. It's all in the unsaid, in what Lily longs for and what she wants to hide to people. It's the kind of thing I like in a novel and Hilary Davidson does it very...more
I started this book on a Friday evening and finished 3am Saturday morning. I could not force myself to put it down! It is a smart modern mystery with an engaging woman protagonist and fast-paced twists and turns. I loved Davidson's multi-dimensional characters who all came with their own shadows, the descriptions of NYC, the touches of noir and the references to great old movies. THE DAMAGE DONE inhabits a dangerous world but one I'd love to visit again. I'll just have to start reading earlier i...more
Hard to believe this is a first novel. I found the plot to be seamless,each plot point follows logically on its predecessor and we do not have the last minute reveal of a pertinent plot point to tie things together. The characters well developed, intriguing flawed but believable, nor does Ms. Davidson fall back on cliche though I must confess for a desire to have Lily, our heroine, and Bruxton, our tough detective, hook up it wouldn't have been true to the story in this case. I hope the author h...more
Lily and Claudia Moore had a difficult childhood. It’s scarred each of them for life, but in very different ways. Lily has escaped her problems by moving to Spain, Claudia by losing herself in her drug addiction.
Of course, wherever we go, we take our troubles with us and Lily is no different to the rest of us. She’s introduced when she’s returning from Europe because her sister, the only family she has left, has been found dead in her apartment.
As it turns out, the body isn’t Claudia’s, though...more
Of course, wherever we go, we take our troubles with us and Lily is no different to the rest of us. She’s introduced when she’s returning from Europe because her sister, the only family she has left, has been found dead in her apartment.
As it turns out, the body isn’t Claudia’s, though...more
The Damage Done is one of those rare books that succeeds on every level.
Emotionally, I was grabbed from the very beginning. Lily, the first person protagonist, is a person I would want to know. She is smart, insightful, and compassionate beyond belief. She's also fun to spend time with - she has quirks and flaws that make her human. I'd love to get drunk with her one night.
The plot is rich with complexity and layers and false identity, but somehow - a testament to the genius writing, perhaps - I...more
Emotionally, I was grabbed from the very beginning. Lily, the first person protagonist, is a person I would want to know. She is smart, insightful, and compassionate beyond belief. She's also fun to spend time with - she has quirks and flaws that make her human. I'd love to get drunk with her one night.
The plot is rich with complexity and layers and false identity, but somehow - a testament to the genius writing, perhaps - I...more
Oh, what a deliciously tangled web of circumstances does author Hilary Davidson weave in her masterful debut, The Damage Done.
Travel writer Lily Moore is called home to New York from Spain with the horrible news that her sister, Claudia, has been found dead in the apartment they share. Even worse, Claudia’s death appears to be a suicide, tragically timed to coincide with the anniversary of their mother’s suicide. Given she had fled to Spain in large part to get away from the downward spiral that...more
Travel writer Lily Moore is called home to New York from Spain with the horrible news that her sister, Claudia, has been found dead in the apartment they share. Even worse, Claudia’s death appears to be a suicide, tragically timed to coincide with the anniversary of their mother’s suicide. Given she had fled to Spain in large part to get away from the downward spiral that...more
Hilary Davidson is the queen of the cliff hanger--I couldn't put this book down! It's a sizzling mystery with a very likable main character--a travel writer with a passion for solving the mystery surrounding her sister's death--snappy dialogue, a terrific sense of setting (gritty NYC) and a lot of well-developed secondary characters who add to the fun. Definitely a mystery writers whose series will be on my bookshelf--I just ordered her second novel.
It took me a little while to get going with this book, and whilst it was good, I was able to put it down for a couple of days and not get withdrawal from it!
The twists were definitely unexpected and the overall plot was decent, the characters lacked a little bit of depth and I found myself getting angry with the lead heroine - somewhat spineless I thought with regards to her ex.
Not a huge fan, but didn't dislike this book either.
The twists were definitely unexpected and the overall plot was decent, the characters lacked a little bit of depth and I found myself getting angry with the lead heroine - somewhat spineless I thought with regards to her ex.
Not a huge fan, but didn't dislike this book either.
Lily Moore moves to Spain, leaving her sometimes heroin-addicted sister Claudia living in her apartment. Several months later, Lily is called home to identify her sister's body after an apparent suicide. When the body turns out not to be Claudia, Lily learns that someone was impersonating her sister, and that she may have run away from an upstate New York rehab center run by a shady psychologist. But no one, including the police, seems to be able to verify Claudia's whereabouts.
An exciting debu...more
An exciting debu...more
While doing research on author websites, I came across this author's website and after browsing around a bit, decided to buy the book for my Kindle for iPad. (So, yes, author websites can really work!) If you're a mystery buff, you'd probably like it. It's the story of a good sister trying to find her bad sister (heroin) who's disappeared somewhere in NYC. There's a twist at the end, but I have to say by that point I was a bit tired of both the "good" sister and the "bad" one. It fell into the "...more
Another Anthony nominee for best first novel. Lots of twists and turns in this one! Interesting characters. I really liked Lily, Tariq, the police, and Lily's friend...whose name escapes me who she stays with and helps her investigate. Set in NYC. Lots of information about drug addiction, but doesn't drag the story down. This is a page turner kind of book. There are maybe a few more twists than necessary. Recommended!
This is the first book in a series of three, though only the first 2 are written so far. Hilary Davidson spent many years writing for guide books and recently shifted to writing mystery novels. I saw her at Tattered Cover promoting her second book which was set in Machu Picchu. She is a good writer although this first one didn't entirely capture my imagination, it was nevertheless a quick and entertaining read.
Lily Moore is a travel writer, living in Spain, who returns to Manhattan after receiving the dreadful phone call that her sister has been found dead. Yet, when she views the body, it is not her sister. Who is it? And where is her sister? Beware: You won't be able to sleep, until you know!
I loved this book! I could not put it down....I kept telling myself "just one more chapter" I had to know what happended next and everytime I thought I knew what happened to Claudia, there was a twist! Lily Moor...more
I loved this book! I could not put it down....I kept telling myself "just one more chapter" I had to know what happended next and everytime I thought I knew what happened to Claudia, there was a twist! Lily Moor...more
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Hilary Davidson’s first novel, THE DAMAGE DONE (Forge, 2010) — described as a "razor sharp mystery debut" by Publishers Weekly — won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Crimespree Award for Best First Novel (it was also a finalist for the Macavity and Arthur Ellis awards).
The sequel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, was published on February 14, 2012. According to Publishers Weekly, "The ri...more
More about Hilary Davidson...
The sequel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, was published on February 14, 2012. According to Publishers Weekly, "The ri...more
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Mar 18, 2013 06:18pm