Book Review — SAVING GRACE by D.M. Barr
Grace Pierrepoint Rendell, the only child of an ailing billionaire, has been treated for paranoia since childhood. When she secretly quits her meds, she begins to suspect that once her father passes, her husband will murder her for her inheritance. Realizing that no one will believe the ravings of a supposed psychotic, she devises a creative way to save herself—she will write herself out of danger, authoring a novel with the heroine in exactly the same circumstances, thus subtly exposing her husband’s scheme to the world. She hires acclaimed author Lynn Andrews to help edit her literary insurance policy, but when Lynn is murdered, Grace is discovered standing over the bloody remains. The clock is ticking: can she write and publish her manuscript before she is strapped into a straitjacket, accused of homicide, or lowered six feet under?
With a cast of secondary characters whose challenges mirror Grace’s own, Saving Grace is, at its core, an allegory for the struggle of the marginalized to be heard and live life on their own terms.
I enjoyed the first quarter or so, as Grace’s mental health deteriorated and she tried to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. I felt her fear and instability, along with her suspicions that things weren’t as they seemed.
Then the plot took a turn, and the further we got into the story, the more implausible it all became. Soon we were in ridiculous territory.
I couldn’t buy into any of it. I almost gave up halfway through, but I kept reading with the hope that it all would make sense in the end. I should’ve given up.
*I received an eARC from the publisher, via NetGalley.*
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