Skip to main content

Book Review: After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman


When Felix Brewer skips town to avoid a prison sentence, he leaves behind a wife, Bambi, three daughters and a mistress, Julie. When the mistress disappears 10 years later, everyone assumes she went off to be with Felix. Then her body is found nearby. The police never manage to solve the murder case, but Sandy Sanchez, a former detective, decides to open the cold case about 20 years later and is determined to find the truth.

After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman is part crime novel, part family drama. Lippman covers several time frames throughout the novel, telling the story of Bambi and Felix, Julie and Felix, and Bambi and her daughters in the years after Felix's disappearance. We also get to know Sandy a bit, as well as other key characters. It sounds complicated, but it actually was easy to follow after the first few chapters.

I enjoyed the different characters, particularly the three daughters who are middle aged women by the end of the novel. It was interesting to read how their father's disappearance and his affair affected them, and how they related to one another and their mother over the years. The question of what really happened to Julie remained a mystery until it was revealed, as did the question of whether Felix Brewer would ever return to his family.

Overall, this was a good mystery with an engaging storyline that will keep you turning the pages until the end.

My Review: 4/5

Connect with Laura Lippman on her website, Facebook page or Twitter.

This review was written based on a copy of After I'm Gone that I received from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Labels:

Comments

  1. I can't believe that I live near Baltimore and still haven't read anything by Lippman. I'm certainly missing out!

    Thanks for being a part of the tour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. This was my first by her, but I will likely read another.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Popular posts from this blog

Banned Books Week: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

This is the end of Banned Books Week and unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to write about banned books this year. But I did want to include at least one post about it, so today I wanted to share one of the book series that it seems most people are surprised to find on the list: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park.

According to Wikipedia:
The Junie B. Jones series came in at #71 on the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Banned or Challenged Books from 2000-2009. Reasons cited are poor social values taught by the books and Junie B. Jones not being considered a good role model due to her mouthiness and bad spelling/grammar. This is an interesting example of a banned book. Many times there are serious, controversial topics featured in books that are challenged. Things like homosexuality, drugs, vulgar language, etc. You can actually understand why people may not want their children to read those books, and why they may challenge their inclusion in school libra…
10 comments
Read more

Book Review: No Story to Tell by KJ Steele

Victoria has been put down since the day she was born. First by her parents who were disappointed that she survived while her twin brother died. Then by her verbally abusive husband and his low-life friends. But soon an intriguing artist named Elliott arrives in town and starts encouraging Victoria to follow her dream of opening her own dance studio. She also begins to receive phone calls from a mysterious someone who gets her to open up about her past and face her true feelings.

In No Story to Tell, KJ Steele has captured the small-town atmosphere and brought these characters to life. From the victimized Victoria, to her drunk and obnoxious husband Bobby and his drunk and obnoxious friends, to all the side characters who you'd expect to encounter in a town like this ~ all are so realistic in both their actions and their voices. She has written a compelling story of an abused woman who thinks she is trapped in this loveless, miserable existence. But then she finds a spark of hope…
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: I See You by Clare Mackintosh

Title: I See You
Author: Clare Mackintosh
Genre: thriller
Published: February 21, 2017
Format: ebook (NetGalley)
Source: publisher
Buy on Amazon(affiliate link)


Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? You will after reading Clare Mackintosh's latest release I See You. Told from the perspectives of two women, one who appears to be targeted by a criminal and the other who is the police officer working the case, this psychological thriller will have you looking over your own shoulder by the end.

Zoe is a typical working mother who takes the Underground through London to her office every day. Like most commuters, she has a routine that she follows every day, leaving home at the same time, sitting in the same train car, taking the same route to work from the station. It's habit. But she starts to realize this may not be a good idea after seeing her own photo in an advertisement in the newspaper. Another woman who appears in the advertisement is murdered and Zoe starts to ge…
2 comments
Read more