A World I Never Made
James LePore
The Story Plant, Apr 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 0981608728
In 2004 in Connecticut, widower Pat Nolan learns his only child, twenty-nine years old freelance writer Megan, committed suicide in Paris based on a suicide note she sent him. Pat is stunned though he is estranged from his daughter mostly because he never moved on past his wife dying in childbirth three decades ago. The French ask him to come to Paris to confirm that the corpse is that of Megan.
He arrives in France and identifies the body as his daughter though he knows otherwise. Megan has left him clues of a sort to follow as if she needs him to find her. Pat quickly learns how she supported herself as an expatriate American by selling her only asset, her body to the affluent in Europe and North Africa. French Judiciary Police Detective Catherine Laurence, a recent widow due to a terrorist bombing, teams up with the American on his quest to locate Megan at the same time the Saudi government has an interest in Megan too as they believe she is alive and tied to a Abdel al-Lahani, a Saudi citizen who they connect to suicide bombings in Morocco.
The key to this exciting thriller is the cast especially the Nolan father and daughter. Pat is terrific from the stunning opening sequence when he reads his daughter’s suicide note, his lie re the corpse, which Laurence’s superior Inspector LeGrand accepts though he knows otherwise, and subsequently his inquiry. Megan is mostly seen through his perception of her though the audience learns relatively early why the Saudis believe she is alive. Although Laurence does not come across as plausible as the two Americans, fans will enjoy this one sitting suspense thriller.
Harriet Klausner
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