- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743219317
- ISBN-13: 978-0743219310
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.3 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The atmosphere of Ireland is almost palpable in Parsons's strong but unevenly plotted thriller (after Mary, Mary and The Courtship Gift). The beauteous Rachel Beckett shot her husband after a row, and her lover, her husband's adopted brother, Daniel, finished the job. At least that's the story Rachel tells. But no one believes her, and she is sentenced to life in prison. Paroled at the age of 42, she goes home and, while readjusting to life outside, secretly hatches a plot against her former lover, ingratiating herself into his family and restarting their affair, putting to use the dubious lessons learned from her fellow prisoners. Rachel's parole officer has his own agenda, a very sick wife and a guilty conscience. While casting her net over Daniel, Rachel tries to recontact their teenage daughter, Amy, who wants nothing to do with her. When Rachel finally springs her trap and disappears, leaving evidence that Daniel has killed her, he uses Amy to try to draw Rachel out and shows his true colors when the plan backfires. It's an engrossing story, sharply imagined at points; the tender but ambiguous relationship between the parole officer and his wife and Rachel's anguish over her daughter are particularly well executed. But the protagonists are problematic: Rachel is presented as a victim, and her transformation into black widow is too abrupt; Daniel has been made neither so heartless nor so desperate as to put his daughter's life in jeopardy. Even so, Parsons manages to establish a taut narrative of psychological suspense, far superior to the average suspense novel, and more is to be expected from this promising writer.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Rachel Beckett, a talented architect, was convicted of murdering her policeman husband, Martin. After serving 12 years of a life sentence in a Dublin prison, she has been provisionally released and is determined to exact vengeance on her husband's adopted brother, Daniel, whom she believes is the true murderer. Meanwhile, jaded detective Jack Donnelly investigates the murder of Judith Hill, a young woman whom Rachel had befriended in prison. To make matters worse for the parolee, her daughter continues to believe that Rachel is her father's killer and harbors a deep hatred, despite Rachel's attempts to reach out to her. This psychological thriller is the third novel by Dublin-based Parsons (after The Courtship Gift). Although the plot is tightly constructed and suspenseful, the book falters because of the author's overwrought style and Rachel's monomaniacal desire for retribution, which makes her a flat and unlikable character. Recommended where there is demand for thrillers. Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ., ND
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fails to please,
By A Customer
This review is from: Eager to Please (Mass Market Paperback)
"Brilliant" claims Minette Waters on the fly leaf (?!) Well she also said "Deja Dead" by Kath Reichs was "Unputdownable" so I guess we should all have learned to take her recommendations with a pinch of salt by now!"Laughable" might be more appropriate. Except that this book is so bad it is not funny. An implausable plot that turns only on the poor choices of cardboard characters. The daily dirge of dreary Rachel et al is described in minute detail and to no advantage that I can see - beyond padding a threadbare plot. "Preposterous" if we are expected to believe, for example, that the once beautiful but now aged beyond her years and socially inadequate Rachel transforms overnight into a femme fatal capable of seducing a muscular, young stud. The book lost me right there and then. "Forgetable". Eager To Please? Oh, please!
2.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, but...,
By emt0402 (Virginia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eager to Please (Mass Market Paperback)
"Eagar to Please" was my first book by Julie Parson. While I was not entirely disappointed, I would probably not look into any of her other novels. Rachel Beckett has been falsely imprisoned for the murder of her husband. She was sentenced to life, but after twelve years, she is released on a strict probation. She is not even permitted to see her daughter. After years of prison, Rachel has learned a thing or two about committing real crimes and she is determined to seek revenge on her husband's real murderer.I found the basic plot of "Eager to Please" okay. It was fast paced, with a couple of good characters, including the main character of Rachel. However, it was slow to start, with what I felt was far too much background information. Another complaint I have is there seem to be several stories mixed in. I found that the more I read, the more confused I became. And the main plot had no real twists. Overall, I would say it is a basic mystery of sorts, and there are a great many authors out there who can do so much better. Skip this one.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Implausible, disappointing,
By A Customer
This review is from: Eager to Please (Hardcover)
I loved MARY, MARY, Julie Parsons's first novel, so much that I read it twice. Her second book, THE COURTSHIP GIFT, was a letdown. And EAGER TO PLEASE is a disappointment on almost every level -- except that of writing style, which is excellent. This book takes forever to get started; for more than 100 pages virtually no forward movement takes place. Instead, the reader is served the same backstory in several different forms, and forced to watch as Rachel, the central character, moves with little purpose through her first days after release from prison. Rachel, convicted of a murder she didn't commit, is sympathetic at first, but once she sets her revenge plot in motion -- and makes use of innocent children and their innocent mother in the process -- she becomes repugnant. Her brother-in-law Daniel, the object of her vengeful scheming, rarely does anything that makes sense. I was constantly asking, "Why on earth is the man doing that?" and was never provided with answers. And Rachel's revenge is based on such a threadbare, B-movie concept that I was disappointed by the writer's lack of imagination. MARY, MARY is also a story of revenge, but written with much more imagination and flare. Julie Parsons writes beautifully, but this is probably the last of her books I will bother to read.
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