Disclaimer: I was sent an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and an honest review is what you’ll get. Affiliate links are used in this post. If you make a purchase using my link, I will receive a small commission.
I like Lisa Scottoline, I do. She’s a friend to libraries (a few years ago she surprised a room full of us librarians when she donated a chunk of money to the Pennsylvania Library Association in the midst of a speech she was giving), she is a huge supporter and champion of literacy and one year she gave me a shout-out during a fund raiser we were both attending. Plus, she’s a Philly girl and, as one G. Neri succinctly put it, “Philly Girls is hot!” But reading Lisa’s latest book, Most Wanted, left me feeling kinda cold.
r’s note: SPOILERS AHEAD. If you plan on reading this book, stop here. You’ve been warned.
As usual, Lisa carefully crafts a story full of compelling issues. In Most Wanted, Christine Nilsson finds the excitement of her pregnancy tainted when her donor is suspected of murder. Christine decides to start her own investigation to uncover the truth. I mean, what else would one do if the biological father of your unborn child could be a killer?
Compelling, right? I do not begrudge Christine’s desire to learn all she can about her child’s genetic history. Shoot, when I was pregnant with The Bee and the doctor suspected that the pregnancy may not be able to go to term, I was all over the library and web trying to figure out what was going on so I get it. In Christine’s case, it was HOW Christine went about her search that made me not want to finish this book or care about the outcome.
The book starts with Christine, two months pregnant and leaving her job as a teacher so that she can prepare for the new addition to her family. Once she sees the face of her door slashed across national television, she begins the search for the truth. I call shenanigans on this. Part of the reason Christine leaves work it stop prepare for her child AND to rest up. I dare not speak on the difficulty of people trying to conceive and what they go through and shucks, if you can afford not to work, then go for it. I KNOW that I sound a little salty because I had to work up until the day before I went into labor and so this is a totally petty nitpick but if Christine is supposed to be taking it easy, why would she jeopardize her pregnancy by ignoring the advice of her husband and attorney and playing sleuth?
HOW she goes about getting the truth also made me toss the book aside a few times. Christine befriends the suspected murderer, Zachary, after she meets with him because she just has to see him for herself. Upon him telling her that he didn’t do it, Christine wants to secure and PAY for him to get a lawyer. Christine, a school teacher, then begins to do legal work for the lawyer she’s help secure for Zachary and gets herself into situations that nearly cost her her life.
Lisa’s writing is good, the characters she creates are real and people you want to root for but this time Ifelt like I just didn’t care what happened to any of the people in this book. I did learn more about the process for sperm donation and Lisa shared it in a way that was not clinical or boring. As usual, the Philadelphia area is an additional character in the book. It’s a quick read, not fun but interesting enough if you are thinking about new families or are a diehard Lisa Scottoline fan. At the very least, Most Wanted is a guilty read, right for lazy summer days.
Books mentioned
Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri
Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline
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