2014 Book Review #37: Keep Quiet

This book!!  WOW!

I finally had the good fortune to read a book this past week that was very well written and kept me reading way late into the night......after being unsuccessful with 3 other books from the library, I finally found a good one!  In the last month, I tried reading 3 books that were on the "new books" shelf at our town library and they were awful!!  One was a little "demonic" in nature, and the other 2 were just badly written..at least in the beginning and didn't keep my attention. Rather than wasting my time on them, I simply returned them to the library.  I then found 3 other books, this one included....and since I've read this author before, I had a feeling it would be a good one. 

STORY SUMMARY  

The Buckman family lives in small town in Pennsylvania.  Jake owns his own financial planning business and is quite successful after a time of unemployment.  His wife Pam is a judge and also very successful.  Their only child, Ryan, is a 16 year old star basketball player.  His relationship with his dad is not a great one, but he is very close to his mom. And his basketball coach.

 Jake wants to change that....so one night he is the one to pick up Ryan from the movies and bring him home.  He allows Ryan to drive even though it is past learner permit curfew.  They take the short cut home along a country road that is popular with the track team for their running work-outs.  Little does Jake know that Ryan smoked some "weed" just before leaving the mall. All of a sudden, their special bonding time turns into a nightmare.  Tragedy strikes......a teen girl is struck and killed.  And she is one of the popular track stars at Ryan's school and in Ryan's classes.  Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that will change the rest of their lives.  All of a sudden, they are dealing with guilt, shame and lies.  They have a crushing secret.....and soon are caught in a huge web of more lies and secrets.  It has the power to tear their family apart and will ruin all of them.

And then.....in the next few days...they discover that Kathleen was already dead when their car hit her!!  Who really killed her??  Will they ever find out?  And who is this man who is blackmailing them? is he the killer or does he know the killer?? and who kills HIM??

Read the book to find out the answer and the very surprising ending!!

MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed this book.  The author is a fave of mine anyways, and I think I have enjoyed every novel I've read by her.  

I like that it is fast-paced and exciting. I love how the emotions of Ryan and Jake leap out at the pages for the reader....you can actually feel their pain, guilt and shame.  I like that Pam turns out to act in some very surprising ways....not the predictable way I imagined the book to be. 

The characters are life-like as is their pain, anger, guilt, shame and victories......because yes, there are a few victories in this book.  It is about the power behind a parent's love for their child...that a parent will do anything to protect a child and his future.

The only thing I didn't really like was the abrupt ending.  It seemed like all of a sudden, the story took this one twist and boom....it was done.  I DID like the epilogue at the very end, and I found it useful to know what life was like for the Buckman family 6 months into the future.

I highly recommend this book!

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.