Look Again-Lisa Scottoline

Look Again
Lisa Scottoline
St. Martin’s, Apr 14 2009, $26.95
ISBN: 0312380720

Since she laid eyes on him when he was only a year old, Ellen Gleason fell in love with the baby. The infant’s mother did not want him and could not pay his bills; his father signed away his “parental” rights. Ellen adopted him changing his name to Will. They are happy together until she receives a flyer for missing children; one of them is Tim Braverman who was accidentally abducted during a car-jacking. The computer age processing of the picture is an exact likeness of her Will.

The more the picture haunts her the more she wonders if her Will is Tim. Unable to resist, Ellen makes inquiries only to learn the woman who facilitated the adoption committed suicide. Persistent she still gets the adoption records where she learns the name of the mother. Ellen tracks her family down, but they do not know where Amy is. Still unable to ignore the picture, she obtains DNA of the mother and father of Tim to determine whether they are her Will’s biological parents. If yes, she considers then what.

Lisa Scottoline has written a well crafted absorbing drama that will appeal to fans of Jodi Picoult. Ellen is a brave person who refuses to let sleeping dogs lie regardless of the cost of losing her beloved son’ as she goes to extraordinary measures to learn the truth. Her efforts have unintended consequences as she places her self and her child in danger from someone who wants the truth to remain buried. Although that suspense adds suspense and tension, it detracts from a strong family drama starring a woman who fears what the truth will bring, but needs to know.

Harriet Klausner