Laura Lippman crafts a brilliant new stand-alone novel featuring a suburban madam, a convicted murderer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the secret that threatens to shatter several lives. Heloise thought she was safe. Val, a murderer who she helped put behind bars, is on death row and she has rebuilt her life in a small, tight knit, suburban community where her past has not been questioned. When Val's seemingly airtight conviction is overturned and he's freed from prison, she is convinced he will hunt her down. For Heloise is hiding a secret—Val is her former pimp and the father of her son. What lengths will Heloise go to in order to protect her child and the life she's built for him?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 14, 2012 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780792790358
- File size: 281977 KB
- Duration: 09:47:27
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Publisher's Weekly
Starred review from July 16, 2012
The consequences of long-buried secrets involving misogyny, motherhood, and morality play out in this excellent stand-alone set in suburban Maryland from Edgar-winner Lippman (The Most Dangerous Thing). Introduced in the novella “Scratch a Woman,” Heloise Lewis is a survivor who rose from the ashes of her past to run a profitable call-girl service, occasionally meeting special clients herself. To her neighbors, she’s a young widow and a devoted mother who never misses her son Scott’s ball games at his middle school. To the IRS, she’s a lobbyist with several women on her payroll and a medical plan. But Heloise’s carefully constructed life is falling apart because Val Deluca, her son’s father, who also was her former pimp, may be released from prison. Val doesn’t know he’s Scott’s father or that Heloise’s betrayal put him behind bars for murder. Shifting smoothly from Heloise’s past to her present, Lippman delivers an intense character study about a strong, complex woman whose love for her son compels her to make some desperate choices. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary.
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