Having just finished a couple of very intense books, I decided to give DON'T GO a try since it was written by one of my favorite legal thriller writers.
Dr. Mike Scanlon is serving in Afghanistan, a handy theme when presenting the reader with hand-wringing drama. He's notified that his wife had died from a household accident, leaving his infant daughter with relatives. Now, Mike Scanlon is a doctor so you have to assume he is working with some brain cells. But Ms. Scottoline's protagonist makes such dumb decisions that you can see very early on just where this book is going and it's frustrating at best. I was actually moaning out loud to a friend that I couldn't believe he went back to Afghanistan and couldn't believe he signed a poorly worded temporary custody agreement with his wife's sister and her attorney husband. My friend kept telling me to shut up and even threatened to turn off her hearing aids since she wanted to read the book after me.
I have to admit that I've always tried to skip over the chick lit books written by some of my favorite mystery and thriller writers; John Grisham, David Baldacci and Lisa Scottoline to name just a few. Without the tension and intrigue of the thrillers written by these authors, the chick lit crossover novels they produce just seem to fall flat. What I realized is that these authors take themselves too seriously for the chick lit genre and fail to add the humor and comedic touch that make books by Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding such a pleasure to read and a fun way to spend an afternoon.
That said, DON'T GO is trite and predictable and takes itself too seriously. I was forced to finish reading this book to see just how bad it was, and it was bad! I would suggest you DON'T GO to your favorite bookseller or library for this one.
To be released April, 2013
