Look Again

by Lisa Scottoline

(2009)

     I think every parent's worst nightmare would be to have your child stolen; taken away in the dead of the night by some monster of a person...oh, right, that's my awful reaccuring dream.  Lisa Scottoline takes an adopting parent's worst nightmare and crafts this very beautiful story around it.  I loved getting to know Ellen Glesson as she moves from the joys of juggling single-parenting her son, Will, to the demands of a full-time reporting job.  Her comfortable world begins to crack just a little the day she spots one of those "Have you seen this child?" flyer and the child's photo looks remarkably like Will.  She tosses the flyer away only retrieving it seconds later.  She becomes fixated on looking into Will's adoption, driving here and there across the East Coast locating family members of the birth mother's. 
    I knew things were not quite right when the adoption lawyer turned up dead but that was only a small tip of the rest of the mystery involving Will's legal parents.  I so enjoyed it and at times didn't want to put it down.  It was supposed to be my lighter book sandwiched between Little Bee by Chris Cleave and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, both excellent books on serious topics.  It was lighter but fun and exciting as well.  I noticed from checking out her website, Scottoline has a a new book out, Think Twice.  I have a lot of books in line to read first but I know I will look for other books by her, including this new one.
Quote: 

"Mommy, look!"  Will called out, running toward her with a paper in his hand.  His bangs blew off his face, and Ellen flashed on the missing boy from the white card in the mail.  The likeness startled her before it dissolved in a wave of love, powerful as blood. p. 2 Look Again

This is a story about a mother's love and how far that love will push you to go beyond normal and  find the truth.  There are shocking surprises along Ellen's journey to uncover the truth about her son yet it wasn't so scary that I couldn't sleep at night.  She has an interesting love twist and a really wicked coworker bringing her misery but her role as a mother is definetely the strongest.  Doesn't the cover pull you in a little also.  This is the paperback cover of the one I have while the hardcover has a bright red cover with no picture. 

Recommended

3.5/5 peaceful stars

Check out these other reviews:

Sandy at You GOTTA read this!

and

Mimi and Christina at 2 Girls 1 Book review.