Mystery/Thriller -- 3 stars
As a young mother, Maggie Ippolitti lost her parental rights after suffering a postpartum breakdown. Years later, following the death of her ex-husband, Maggie (happily remarried and stepmom to a young boy) is contacted by her daughter--now a 17-year-old student in a tony Maine boarding school. Maggie is ecstatic to reunite with the baby she lost so many years ago, and, with the blessing of her new family, brings her daughter home to live with them. Just weeks later, Anna is dead and Maggie's husband, Noah, is arrested for the crime. I have enjoyed quite a few of Lisa Scottoline's books, but lately her successes have been a hit and miss thing. This one is so unrealistic that it goes beyond irritating to just being funny. Maggie shows up at Anna's boarding school, meets Anna who goes to pack her room while Maggie visits the school office to say they are leaving; and no one asks any questions. Just "Okay. Bye." Short hours later Maggie and the teenager she has not seen since infancy are laughing, joking about music, swapping secrets like best friends, and shopping for furniture for the girl's new bedroom. And then there is the police department that not only allows Maggie to join them on a SWAT raid, it allows her to insert herself--unarmed and unprotected--into the middle of it. The dialogue is equally silly, overly perky, and awkward. Upon seeing a sign advertising the school's Spring musical -- Maggie to Anna: "The song 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning' is from Oklahoma. It is a beautiful morning, isn't it?!" Sadly, the story itself isn't bad. It is the execution that fails.
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