Come Home

January 9, 2012
Complex family dynamics and carefully concealed secrets drive this gripping stand-alone from Edgar-winner Scottoline (Save Me). Jill Farrow, a Philadelphia pediatrician, and her teenage daughter, Megan, live with Jill’s calm and forbearing fiancé, Sam Becker. When Jill’s estranged 19-year-old ex-stepdaughter, Abby Skyler, rushes into Jill’s home late one rainy night to tell her that her ex-husband, William, is dead, apparently of a drug overdose, Jill can summon little sympathy for the unscrupulous William. When the distraught Abby insists that her father was murdered and that Jill must help her find his killer, Jill is reluctant to get involved, particularly since the police can find no evidence of a crime. As Jill tries to juggle her duties as doctor, mother, and sleuth, her delving into William’s murky past puts emotional strain on Megan and jeopardizes her relationship with Sam. A surfeit of melodrama and some anemic subplots are unlikely to deter the author’s many loyal fans. Author tour. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary Agency.

March 1, 2012
Another stand-alone suspenser that rams home the point that there's no such thing as an ex-mother. Pharmaceutical rep William Skyler blamed his divorce on his wife, Dr. Jill Farrow. He told his daughters, Victoria and Abby, that Jill had cheated on him and forbade them to keep in touch with her or her own daughter Megan. Now, three years later, William is dead, overdosed on prescription medications Abby is convinced he didn't take himself. What's Jill supposed to do when Abby drives unannounced to the home she shares with diabetes researcher Sam Becker, drunk, weeping hysterically and begging for help? Nothing, maintains Sam, who tells Jill that she's choosing continuing loyalty to Abby (and to Victoria, who makes it witheringly clear at William's funeral that she still wants nothing to do with Jill) over her commitment to him and his son Steven. Nothing, say the Philadelphia police, who insist that William's death was no homicide. Nothing, Jill's penny-pinching medical-practice manager Sheryl Ewing says--or would surely say if Jill, already playing out a losing hand in office politics, ever brought it up to her. Naturally, Jill, protesting, "What's a mother, or a stepmother?...Isn't it forever?," takes it upon herself to investigate anyway. Scottoline backs her increasingly beset supermom ("It wasn't a juggling act, it was a magic act") into sleuthing mode with practiced expertise, giving her exactly the right motivations and qualifications for the specific questions she asks. And there'll be a lump in every throat when Abby disappears and when Jill fights to diagnose a baby who keeps getting ear infections. As usual with Scottoline, though, the complications are a lot more satisfying than the windup, in which reason and plausibility take a back seat to tearful family affirmations. Connoisseurs of mother love imperiled will prefer Save Me (2011). But it would be a mistake to count Scottoline out; she's sure to be back next year with another dose that might be even more potent.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from February 1, 2012

Pediatrician Jill Farrow lives an ordinary suburban life with her 13-year-old daughter, supportive fiance, and well-fed golden retriever until a midnight visitor turns her idyllic life upside down. Jill's ex-stepdaughter Abby arrives with the news that Jill's ex-husband, William, is dead and she suspects foul play. Despite distaste for her ex and a three-year estrangement from her two stepdaughters, Jill begins investigating William's death to help Abby obtain closure. Fueled by her strong maternal instincts, Abby's quest for the truth propels her into a dangerous cat-and-mouse chase that risks her closest relationships and threatens her life. VERDICT Scottoline (Save Me; Look Again) deftly speeds readers through a dizzying labyrinth of intrigue with more hairpin turns and heart-pounding drops than a theme-park ride. This thrilling testament to a mother's relentless love may well be Scottoline's best novel to date. Her many fans and other mystery/thriller aficionados will want to read it. [300,000-copy first printing; national tour; see Prepub Alert, 10/31/11.]--Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Just as in Save Me (2011), Scottoline delivers a satisfying thriller with a family saga at its core. Jill, a pediatrician in her forties, is ready to get the next chapter of her life underway with her medical researcher fianc', Sam, and her wonderful middle-school daughter, Megan. But when she learns of the death of her ex, William, her future is put on hold as she tries to make sense of the past. William was a con man and a user, but during their 10-year marriage, Jill was mother to his two young daughters, Victoria and Abby, and feels an obligation to help them now that they're alone. But when Abby asks for help not only with learning how to run a household but also with proving that her father's death wasn't accidental but murder, Jill gets over her head and risks losing Sam as she pursues Abby's seemingly immature and outlandish leads. While readers may miss Scottoline's hugely popular Rosato and Associates series, this character-driven stand-alone proves equally involving. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Scottoline has been stretching her wings a bit with two stand-alones heavy on domestic drama, but loyal fans of her legal thrillers signed on for Save Me and are likely to do the same this time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)