Live to Tell-Wendy Corsi Staub

Live to Tell
Wendy Corsi Staub
Avon, Feb 23 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061895067

A man is being chased and he needs a place to hide a memory stick. He steals a young girl Sadie’s rabbit and leaves it at the lost and found at the Grand Central subway station

In Glenhaven Park, New York Lauren Walsh struggles to cope with losing her husband to another woman. However, Lauren notices someone watching her house especially her daughter Sadie. Her child tells her mom someone entered her room because the invisible wire she put on the door is on the floor.

Republican gubernatorial candidate right wing Garvey Quinn has a secret if revealed would destroy his political career. He has someone seeking the individual with the information that would ruin him. One of his trusted aides says it is inside a pink rabbit dropped off at a lost and found. Sadie’s father picks up a pink dog as that is what he though his angry ex ordered him to find. Quinn’s aide targets the Walsh family as he will do whatever it takes to obtain the memory stick. Meanwhile Elsa Covington mourns her son abducted a decade ago; Quinn is the tie between these two moms.

This highly entertaining suspense thriller grips the audience who knows what is happening but not why as whatever Garvey conceals at any cost to others remains unknown but tantalizes readers into trying to guess the answer. Garvey makes the tale work as a fully developed villain who uses loyal people to commit crimes that cannot easily be tied to him so he can claim plausible deniability. Lauren is reeling with the ugly divorce, but remains strong especially a lioness protecting her cubs. Fans will root for her and Elsa knowing anyone who accidentally ends up inside of Garvey’s circle either as a friend or not is an expendable pawn.

Harriet Klausner