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The Sleeping Boy
A murder-suicide leaves a young boy in a coma. Just another story on the six o’clock news. Just another casualty of an unhappy marriage. The cops have seen it all before. Just not in this neighbourhood . . .
Dr. Leah Mallick had a life others could only covet. Beautiful, effortlessly intelligent, irresistibly charming, she stood at the centre of the nation’s influence and power. So when Mallick and her husband are found dead with their cold fingers entwined and their hopelessly damaged son clinging to life, they leave behind a string of baffling questions – including who was victim and who was murderer.
Lieutenant Anne Shannon, harbouring her own secret knowledge of heartbreak, begins the investigation by asking what would drive a loving person to murder a spouse and a child. In the midst of the media storm surrounding the case, Shannon forms a reluctant partnership with Susan Shaw, a well-connected bureaucrat who knows more about Leah Mallick than she can afford to admit. As they piece together the shards of the Mallicks’ broken life, the two women come to understand that their everyday world is ruled by the shadowy forces of big business, the medical industry, politics, and tabloid journalism. And they find themselves both pawns and players in a surprising endgame with life-or-death consequences.
From the Paperback edition.
Dr. Leah Mallick had a life others could only covet. Beautiful, effortlessly intelligent, irresistibly charming, she stood at the centre of the nation’s influence and power. So when Mallick and her husband are found dead with their cold fingers entwined and their hopelessly damaged son clinging to life, they leave behind a string of baffling questions – including who was victim and who was murderer.
Lieutenant Anne Shannon, harbouring her own secret knowledge of heartbreak, begins the investigation by asking what would drive a loving person to murder a spouse and a child. In the midst of the media storm surrounding the case, Shannon forms a reluctant partnership with Susan Shaw, a well-connected bureaucrat who knows more about Leah Mallick than she can afford to admit. As they piece together the shards of the Mallicks’ broken life, the two women come to understand that their everyday world is ruled by the shadowy forces of big business, the medical industry, politics, and tabloid journalism. And they find themselves both pawns and players in a surprising endgame with life-or-death consequences.
From the Paperback edition.
562 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 12, 2014
The book started out really well (which author can pull off a cat investigating her home that has turned into a crime scene - and do it as well as Barbara J. Stewart did).
I was quite enthusiastic about the characters as well, especially lieutenant Anne Shannon, the spokeswoman for the police in an industrial town.
Everything feels real and true, the people, their dialogues, the setting, the people`s lives. And Barbara J. Stewart`s writing is very good.
But towards the last third of the book, I began to be disappointed. The plot did not seem credible anymore, there were few twists and surprises. I did not like the end at all.
Barbara J. Stewart could be an excellent crime writer, there is a lot of promise in this book (that was her first novel), but in my eyes, the promise in the end was not fulfilled.
However I will look at other books by this author, for sure.
I was quite enthusiastic about the characters as well, especially lieutenant Anne Shannon, the spokeswoman for the police in an industrial town.
Everything feels real and true, the people, their dialogues, the setting, the people`s lives. And Barbara J. Stewart`s writing is very good.
But towards the last third of the book, I began to be disappointed. The plot did not seem credible anymore, there were few twists and surprises. I did not like the end at all.
Barbara J. Stewart could be an excellent crime writer, there is a lot of promise in this book (that was her first novel), but in my eyes, the promise in the end was not fulfilled.
However I will look at other books by this author, for sure.
December 30, 2014
This book doesn't flow every well. It feels like half the story is missing and the author can be overly descriptive about some things and very vague about others. Also Americans don't really say "eh?".
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews