I found myself trapped in London this weekend without a book to read. I
dashed over to Chapters and found an interesting looking book called "The
Abortionist's Daughter" by one Elizabeth Hyde in the "new releases"
section. After reading the lavish praises with the right amount of
cautionary doubt, I grabbed the thing and returned to the hotel. It was
labelled a 'thriller' and 'thinking person's spellbinder' or something like
that and I couldn't put it down.
The basic plot: a girl has a fight with her mother -- a doctor who runs
"the Centre for Reproductive Choice" -- and goes back to her college dorm
in a huff. Her father also has a fight with her mother the same day and
goes "somewhere". Later that same day, the mother is found dead --
apparently murdered. The search is on.
I was riveted to the couch with this book and there wasn't a hint of who
did it until about the last 50 pages... BUT and this is a HUGE BUTT, Hyde
committed a cardinal sin -- in my book anyway -- but throwing out a
herring, but not a red one. This was a huge, stinking, rotting fish that
was never buried by the end of the book. About HALFWAY through the book,
one of the detectives lists a summary of the 'evidence' they had to that
point. There were about 8 things on the list and ONE of them was pretty
big. And for the next 200 pages, I was thinking about how it could be
explained and it never was. It wasn't just a little thing like a hair or
something, it was a HUGE piece of evidence that was never dealt with and it
ruined the book for me.
So... I would recommend Elizabeth's writing style and even the plot of this
book, but if you are a diligent whodunnit reader, you'll be let down by
this piece of trickery -- which I don't know whether it is an oversight by
the author, a mess of editing, or a deliberate herring -- that really
shreds an otherwise great book.
As soon as I finished the book, I went online and attempted to find
Elizabeth Hyde's email address or any kind of contact info so I could send
her a message and ask her just what she thought she was doing. But it was
not to be found. If anyone knows her, tell her to wrap up all the details
in the next one please.
Paul
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