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Molly Blume #4
Now You See Me...: A Novel of Suspense
For feisty Los Angeles crime reporter Molly Blume, life is good. She is newly married (to the adoring and adorable Rabbi Zack), and her latest true-crime book is a hot seller. However, when an overardent fan’s attentions arouse Molly’s suspicion, her thoughts turn uneasily to stalkers.But the fan, Reuben Jastrow, swears that he desperately needs Molly’s help in finding his eighteen-year-old daughter, Hadassah, who has run away from home to be with a man she met on the Internet. Molly hesitantly agrees–and immediately has regrets. For Reuben hasn’t told her the whole truth. The more Molly looks for clues to the missing girl’s fate, the more she Is Hadassah a random victim of a predator, or is the girl a pawn in a scheme of revenge against her family?It’s a long, deadly path that stretches before Molly, a path mined with hidden passions and festering secrets. And it ends with a final twist and an unnerving What we don’t see can lead to danger . . . and tragedy.From the Trade Paperback edition.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 26, 2022
Rochelle Krich has written an entertaining detective mystery story with her latest Molly Blume novel of “Now You See Me…: a novel of suspense.” We continue from previous novels to learn about Molly’s Orthodox Jewish life as she balances her new marriage (to a rabbi) with her family, literary, and journalistic obligations, while still managing to feed her insatiable thirst for investigating crimes in present-day Los Angeles. If one didn’t already enjoy the mystery plot, the reader would, nevertheless, find the picture of everyday Jewish Orthodox life worth the read. A helpful glossary of Jewish terms helps to aid those readers who are not acquainted with Jewish culture, which is needed in order to fully appreciate the plot and the characters.
The story begins with Molly on an author tour for her latest true crime story publication. Against her better instincts, she agrees to inquire into the disappearance of a young Jewish girl who may or may not have gone off with an Internet predator. The girl’s family is not only worried about their daughter’s safety, but also what it might mean to their entire family if the story becomes common knowledge in the close-knit Jewish community of Los Angeles where even the suggestion of a scandal could affect an entire family’s reputation and future. A series of clues leads Molly in one direction and then another, and the reader really does not know the solution of the mystery until the last moment. The question, however, is not whether the mystery is solved, but rather whether the reader cares. Krich has created and developed an interesting group of characters that all play a part either in the main story, or in the sub-stories that fill out what could easily have been a group of cardboard characters in a predictable mystery. I liked the book and found it to be a nice change of pace from other mysteries with the funny and not-so-funny pictures of life as a Jew in modern Los Angeles. While I haven’t had the same life as Molly, I have to admit that I related to her enjoyment of including food in just about every social interaction—who wouldn’t? I also found her description of adolescent life disturbingly on target and well researched. Her descriptions of the Los Angeles area were on target.
Read this book when you want to escape from your own world and find out about another. The pace is fast and you can finish it quickly—and then you will begin to wait for the next installment of “Life with Molly.”
The story begins with Molly on an author tour for her latest true crime story publication. Against her better instincts, she agrees to inquire into the disappearance of a young Jewish girl who may or may not have gone off with an Internet predator. The girl’s family is not only worried about their daughter’s safety, but also what it might mean to their entire family if the story becomes common knowledge in the close-knit Jewish community of Los Angeles where even the suggestion of a scandal could affect an entire family’s reputation and future. A series of clues leads Molly in one direction and then another, and the reader really does not know the solution of the mystery until the last moment. The question, however, is not whether the mystery is solved, but rather whether the reader cares. Krich has created and developed an interesting group of characters that all play a part either in the main story, or in the sub-stories that fill out what could easily have been a group of cardboard characters in a predictable mystery. I liked the book and found it to be a nice change of pace from other mysteries with the funny and not-so-funny pictures of life as a Jew in modern Los Angeles. While I haven’t had the same life as Molly, I have to admit that I related to her enjoyment of including food in just about every social interaction—who wouldn’t? I also found her description of adolescent life disturbingly on target and well researched. Her descriptions of the Los Angeles area were on target.
Read this book when you want to escape from your own world and find out about another. The pace is fast and you can finish it quickly—and then you will begin to wait for the next installment of “Life with Molly.”
January 14, 2023
Well this is just a kind of odd book. It is supposed to be a mystery, which I guess it is but it oddly goes into significant detail on the customs and religious practices of Hasidic Jews. It feels like a book designed to show and explain the Jewish customs by loosely wrapping a fictional story around the lesson to provide real world examples. There is a mystery story under it all but the lecture on Jewish customs kind of overshadows everything and makes the story un-engaging. I'm sure some people will enjoy the story and cultural lesson but that's not me. I would have no problem picking up a book on various religions and customs that I am not familiar with, in fact I've done that a number of time. But what bothers me, I guess, is that when you pick up a book that is supposed to be in a certain genera (like a mystery) and it turns out to be a thinly vailed book about another subject (in this case religion). You kind of feel cheated and lied to. So hence the low rating.
January 16, 2013
For feisty Los Angeles crime reporter Molly Blume, life is good. She is newly married (to the adoring and adorable Rabbi Zack), and her latest true-crime book is a hot seller. However, when an overardent fan’s attentions arouse Molly’s suspicion, her thoughts turn uneasily to stalkers.
But the fan, Reuben Jastrow, swears that he desperately needs Molly’s help in finding his eighteen-year-old daughter, Hadassah, who has run away from home to be with a man she met on the Internet. Molly hesitantly agrees–and immediately has regrets. For Reuben hasn’t told her the whole truth. The more Molly looks for clues to the missing girl’s fate, the more she wonders: Is Hadassah a random victim of a predator, or is the girl a pawn in a scheme of revenge against her family?
This book started out a bit slow, and went over my head with the Orthodox Jewish traditions. I as the book went on it slowly pick-up and started to throw you curve balls. The whole book has you believing the one person was a murderer, but you soon find out you are wrong. Completely!! I found myself playing the game Clue blaming in on the maid w/ a knife in the library.
But the fan, Reuben Jastrow, swears that he desperately needs Molly’s help in finding his eighteen-year-old daughter, Hadassah, who has run away from home to be with a man she met on the Internet. Molly hesitantly agrees–and immediately has regrets. For Reuben hasn’t told her the whole truth. The more Molly looks for clues to the missing girl’s fate, the more she wonders: Is Hadassah a random victim of a predator, or is the girl a pawn in a scheme of revenge against her family?
This book started out a bit slow, and went over my head with the Orthodox Jewish traditions. I as the book went on it slowly pick-up and started to throw you curve balls. The whole book has you believing the one person was a murderer, but you soon find out you are wrong. Completely!! I found myself playing the game Clue blaming in on the maid w/ a knife in the library.
July 20, 2007
Hadassah, an 18 year-old Orthodox Jewish high school student, runs away from home to be with a man she has met on the Internet. Her family asks Molly Blume, a crime reporter and novelist (and fellow Orthodox Jew), to find her and persuade her to return home. They don't want word of their daughter's defection to leak into the community: the scandal would harm her siblings' chances of marrying well within the community and jeopardize her rabbi father's position as principal at an Orthodox Jewish high school. As Molly discreetly interviews the people in Hadassah's life, she begins to suspect that Hadassah's seduction may be an act of revenge against her father. I really enjoyed this book, and I rushed back to the library to check out others in the series. I don't usually read mystery/suspense novels (except for Laurie King's), but this book was well-written and provides interesting details about life in a modern Orthodox community.
December 30, 2016
Mystery starring Molly Blume, a crime reporter who is an Orthodox Jew. Religious and cultural traditions are a part of the story, because they are part of Molly’s rich and varied life filled with loving and warm characters. That was a wonderful part of the story for me. The mystery was just so-so, partly because it rehashed some of the same evidence over and over, and was a little obvious in its conclusion. This is fourth in the series and, as I’ve seen critics say the beginning is better, I will definitely give it a chance by going back to the beginning.
November 24, 2008
this book was really good. i thought it was a little boring in the beginning but it got really interesting as i read. it was about a jewish family that had an 18 year old daughter that ran awat with a man. everyone thought the man she ran away was a teacher she had but it turn out that she ran away with someone else. she realize that she didn't love him and that he was really dangerous. a friend of the family helped them find out all the information that the police couldn't get.
January 31, 2009
I was very surprised by this book. It was serious and thought provoking.
I impulsively picked it up as the library was closing thinking it would be a zany, lighthearted book about a mystery-solving, orthodox Rabbi's wife. It was not zany and only occasionally lighthearted. I will look forward to reading more of her books.
I impulsively picked it up as the library was closing thinking it would be a zany, lighthearted book about a mystery-solving, orthodox Rabbi's wife. It was not zany and only occasionally lighthearted. I will look forward to reading more of her books.
June 26, 2010
Another one I listened to in my car. I really like this one. It was great learning about some of the traditions and customs observed by the orthodox jewish religion along with a little mystery and suspense. I enjoyed the characters and thought that they seemed liked they could be real, with faults and all.
October 2, 2007
Rochelle Krich explores what happens to a naive teen who meets a man in an online chat room, and detective Molly Blume sets out to find the girl after she disappears. Krich's writing is taut, her characters well developed, and the story wonderfully suspenseful. A great read!
January 20, 2010
I don't know why I'm so captivated by this series, but I really do love them. I enjoy the mystery, I enjoy learning about the Jewish Orthodox religion and they are very clean. Another great Molly Blume story.
April 18, 2015
This book caught my eye as I was browsing the library. It showed the promise of being both frum and noir plus it was set in LA. For my taste it could have been a bit more noir and less frum but it was a good effort.
October 11, 2015
I'm three-quarters of the way through this audiobook, and I really like it. There's quite a lot of telling, but I can get past that because the mystery is good and it's about Jews. :) The narrator is very good! Definitely going to read more in this series!!
August 28, 2011
A reread I enjoy every time.
Hope there will be more Molly Blume books soon!
Hope there will be more Molly Blume books soon!
April 25, 2009
Solidly written, with a more plausible "innocent in peril" plot than most. Less focused on Orthodox Judaism than other entries in the series.
March 5, 2011
This book was more about the jewish orthodox religion than the mystery book it was supposted to be. It had an ok twist at the end.. so maybe I will give it a 1 1/2 star.
May 1, 2012
I like the character of Molly Blume enough to want to read the books that came before this in the series.
April 7, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.
March 10, 2015
Noooooo I'm out of Rochelle Krich audiobooks NOT OKAY!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews