Title: Now You See Her
Author: Joy Fielding
Review: Sometimes people are out to get you.
When you blend a little bit of familial mental illness, the grief of losing a child, and the stress/depression of a divorce; let it bake in a foreign country, you end up with a potent mix of paranoia and self doubt. Fielding adds these ingredients a little at a time and gradually ratchets up the tension in her heroine Marcy Taggert, to where something has got to give.
If you have a child disappear you would never be able to let go of the suspicion they are still out there waiting to be found. Much like real life cases of kidnapping (Smart, Dugard) you would always feel like a failure as a parent if you gave up too soon. To just accept they are gone would mark you as a failure in your heart, regardless what the world tells you. An impossible position to be in.
Marcy Taggert is taking her second honeymoon sans spouse, as he has left her for the younger golf instructor, and is touring Ireland. Then just sitting at a bar enjoying a pint she sees through the window, into the crowd, her missing daughter of three years walk by. After recovering from the shock she gives chase only to lose her.
What would you do? Much like Marcy you would probably drop everything to find her again, to confirm she is still alive. But it isn’t the first time she has “seen” her, plus her ex-husband tells her she is crazy and needs to move on, her sister agrees, and so do the local police. Plus mental illness does run in her family; maybe she is crazy and only having wishful sightings.
Fielding expertly blends all these elements to give us a portrayal of a mentally exhausted mother desperate to hang onto her sanity. Underlying the story is a plea to her readers, grab hold of those you love and let them know now. It can always be too late before you are ready. Good advice to us all.
Thanks goes to T Stevens for this review.
Thanks goes to T Stevens for this review.
Publisher: Atria Books
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 357
ISBN: 978-1-416-58531-2
Quick Review: 3.5 Stars out of 5.
Why I Read it: I was looking for a book on tape (actually book on self contained digital device) that I could listen to as I walk the dog. I chose this because it was a new mystery that wasn’t part of a series.
Where I Obtained the Book: At my local library.
Synopsis: Fifty-year-old Marcy Taggart’s life is in shambles. Two years ago, her twenty-one-year-old daughter, Devon, perished in a canoeing accident. Her body was never found in the icy waters of Georgian Bay, and as a result Marcy has never fully accepted her death. She continues to see the young woman’s face in crowds and has even stopped strangers on the street, certain she has finally discovered her long lost daughter.
Now in Ireland, on what was originally intended to be a celebration of her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary — if, that is, her husband had not left her for another woman — Marcy yet again thinks she sees her daughter, casually strolling past her on the sidewalk. So begins Marcy’s desperate search to find Devon, to find herself, and to find the disturbing truth that might, in the end, be her only salvation.
Now You See Her vividly displays Fielding’s rare talent for creating the kind of tension, suspense, and compelling heroines readers crave. Riveting from start to finish, it’s one fans won’t want to miss.
Author Biography: Author and actress Joy Fielding was born in Canada in 1945. She received a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto in 1966. While a student, she focused on acting and was one of four stars in a student movie, Winter Kept Us Warm. After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and appeared on Gunsmoke. Her first book, The Best of Friends, was published without an agent. She has written numerous novels since then including Don't Cry Now, The Deep End, The Other Woman, Missing Pieces and Now You See Her. The Periodical Distributors of Canada named her book, Kiss Mommy Goodbye, Book of the Year for 1982. She has contributed book reviews to the Toronto Globe and Mail, CBC's The Radio Show, and CBC-TV's The Journal's Friday Night. Her books, See Jane Run and Tell Me No Secrets, have been adapted into films. (Bowker Author Biography)
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