| Product: |
Buried Evidence - Nancy Taylor Rosenberg |
| Date: |
13.12.05 (105 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: answers questions left open by prequel, "Mitigating Circumstances", page turner
Disadvantages: none
"Buried Evidence" is Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's sequel to "Mitigating Circumstances" and as such a must-read novel for anyone who felt a little unsatisfied and left with unanswered questions after completing her previous amazing thriller.
We fast-forward to Lily Forrester's life six years after the horrific events of Lily and her daughter Shana having been attacked by an intruder. Shana is in college now, aspiring to gain admission to law school thereafter and to follow into her mother's footsteps. She is living with her father John who is struggling to make a living and to pay the bills. Lily lives in another county of California on her own. While she sees Shana only occassionally, she supports her daughter financially and, indirectly, her ex-husband John as well.
This novel stands out as being very different from the previous ones I have reviewed, as it focuses less on a specific viscious crime to be solved and more on interpersonal relationships and tidying up the loose ends that may have been left at the end of "Mitigating Circumstances". Lily does have a main case that she is working on, which involves a man under suspicion of having poisoned his own child - a case that leads to Lily encountering her former love interest, Richard Fowler, on the other side of the court room. And of course there would not be any excitement if one or more of the lead characters did not become deeply involved in some sort of crime themselves. To top it all of, Lily's and Shana's attacker resurfaces on the scene after having been left out of prison much earlier than expected.
All of these storylines are fascinating, interwoven, but separate - ideally suited for a television mini-series. The way Rosenberg deals with the strands of the storyline is magical - by feeding the readers strands of information and leaving them hanging while feeding them a different storyline, she certainly managed to keep the readers on their toes. More than any novel I have previously read, I felt the real urge to read on and find out more.
The novel is not as shocking and as difficult to read as its prequel was, as there are not as many vivid scenes involving sex crimes. The most violence that the reader encounters is during the flashbacks that Lily has to past events. These parts of the novel are written in italics throughout the novel, which hels the reader separate past and present clearly. As I had just finished "Mitigating Circumstances" a few days earlier, I found it easy to simply skip most of the writing in italics, after having gauged the subject-matter of the scene. The flashbacks to the past are intended to assist those readers who have not read "Mitigating Circumstances". While they certainly do assists in grasping the whole storyline without the "background reading", I would urge anyone who appreciates character development to read "Mitigating Circumstances" first before plunging into this novel.
Lily Forrester and Shana are without doubt some of the most intense characters that I have encountered in Rosenberg's writing. Throughout the two novels they keep growing on the reader from page to page. I almost felt a little like I knew them.
One thing I became suspicious of was the fact that Lily seemed to resemble the author herself in terms of the description of her looks. It was only after I found Rosenberg's official website that I discovered a shocking truth. Lily ws indeed somewhat based on the life experiences of the author herself - as they both share a deep and unpleasant history that no child should be expected to go through.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers, or even those who are keen on soaps, as the structure of this writing very much resembles the structure of a soap - with cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter.
***Further information***
Orion Books
ISBN 1-75284-135-1
Page numbers: 326 (first edition paperback)
Price: £9.99 new for first edition paperback (but you can get it cheaper used on Amazon or on ebay)
Summary: Probably Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's best piece of writing.
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