Live to Tell

Author: Wendy Corsi Staub
Genre: Suspense/Mystery
Pages: 372
First Published: February 2010
First Line: "New York City -- He lunges across Sixth Avenue mid-block and against the light, leaving in his wake squealing brakes, honking horns, angry curses through car windows."


Synopsis: "Live to Tell" follows the lives of three people. Lauren Walsh is a suburban mother who is trying to get over recent divorce from her cheating husband and deal with how it effects her three children.

Elsa is a middle-aged woman trying to move past the feelings of loss over the disappearance of her young old son 14 years ago.

The final storyline follows a very powerful man who has a long hidden secret. If his secret is made public it would put an abrupt end to his political career. When a memory stick filled with the politician's secret is misplaced it puts many lives in danger as the man attempts to protect all that he has attained.

My Thoughts: This was the first book I've read by this author. It was a good suspense novel with a very interesting premise but it was too slow in parts. Too much of the storyline dealt with Lauren's feelings of betrayal over her divorce and the ensuing gossip in her small town making it feel more like a Chick Lit read instead of a suspense novel. I would have rather had more attention focused on increasing the tension within the storyline.

Another issue I had was the fact that there were a lot more characters than I'm used to which made it difficult for me to keep them all straight. The storyline was good but the big 'ta-da' moment didn't come until around page 300. I guess I'm an impatient reader because I want more suspense build-up and want to know the big secret earlier.

The book ends with a cliffhanger of sorts which makes me want to read the follow-up book, "Scared to Death" to see where the author goes with the character and storyline that is alluded to. Overall, a decent read with a fairly predictable ending.

My Rating: 3/5 stars