Finished Th 9/11/14
The Maryland section of the novel is set near Catonsville Md.
Strange tale of a kidnapping and rape. Elizabeth is taken by Walter as he has just finished burying Maude. Although, Elizabeth has no idea what he had done, he takes her captive for 39 days.
She is easily manipulated, and she does this to elicit some control over her situation, but even after over twenty years, she cannot forgive herself for her possible complicity.
She's definitely a victim, but can't commit to this 100%
Holly is taken after she had been with Walter for over two weeks. Holly is younger than Elizabeth, but more developed. She was taken from her house as she was raising money for a classmate with a deadly disease.
Walter tries to rape Holly at a remote campsite. Holly flees and is either pushed by Waler, or falls to her death.
Elizabeth is saved by a routine traffic stop, and maybe she could have left Walter numerous times.
Elizabeth's mother works with the criminally insane and her father is a psychiatrist. She changes her name to Eliza and changes schools. Later, she marries Peter a successful venture capitalist and has two children, Albie (Albert) 8yrs. old and Isobel (Iso, pronounced 'eye-so') 13 years old. The family is back to Maryland after Peter's job took them to London. Iso misses it more than she acknowledges and Albie seems like a sweet English boy.
The novel's push is that Walter wants to see Elizabeth before he his execution.
She does, and the novel ends where she begins to see herself less of a victim and starts to take an active role in her own life.
In the afterword Lippman says that this novel is based on a true crime, but it has been camouflaged.
This was my least favorite Laura Lippman novel so far, but it was still well worth the time and I'd still read almost anything by her. Wait a minute.....The Girl In The Green Raincoat was much weaker.
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