- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday Canada (Aug 26 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385659377
- ISBN-13: 978-0385659376
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,300,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Motherly love fuels this latest romantic suspense novel by Fielding (Whispers and Lies; Grand Avenue; etc.), set in Toronto during the city's international film festival. When Julia-beautiful 21-year-old actress, imperious bitch-goddess-goes missing after a screen test with a famous director, her disappearance touches off a full-blown midlife crisis for her mother, Cindy. As Cindy searches for Julia, she envisions lurid crime scenarios, wrangles with her charming snake of an ex-husband and his trophy wife and comes to the uncomfortable realization that she and her selfish, irresponsible daughter have a few things in common. She copes by hashing out issues with her whiny sister, sharp-tongued mother and long-suffering younger daughter, by nurturing infants and pets and by having great sex with a handsome and preternaturally attentive new boyfriend. Crammed with stock situations and expected revelations, this breezy melodrama relies heavily on hit-or-miss repartee. Fielding fills space by having characters repeat one another's dialogue; a comic subplot about an incontinent dog is intrusive and tedious; and the drama takes place mostly in the heroine's head. Cindy herself is a likable mixture of brashness, panic and pratfalls, and readers will empathize as she tries to find her daughter and herself, but she is the lone bright spot in this lackluster effort. Fielding's many fans will miss her usual sharp plotting, but most will go along for the ride.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
The Lifetime channel would do well to invest in best-selling author Fielding's (Whispers and Lies [BKL Jl 02]) entire backlist, for it would provide enough women-in-peril material for an entire season's worth of TV movies. Here divorcee Cindy Carver must deal with old wounds and new turmoil when her daughter, Julia, an aspiring actress, goes missing. Although Cindy has long been divorced, she is still seething with resentment for her ex-husband, who is remarried to a much younger woman. When Julia fails to show up for an appointment, Cindy initially thinks it's just more spoiled behavior on the part of a daughter who has always been willful and difficult. It soon becomes apparent, though, that Julia has vanished, and Cindy must now deal with her ex-husband, the police, and the media, although she does receive emotional support from a loving circle of women friends and a cool new boyfriend. Atmosphere is not a strong suit here--set in Fielding's hometown of Toronto, the novel barely rises above a rote recitation of street intersections. What gives this title its zing is a feisty central character who will endear herself to women everywhere with a series of hilarious faux pas. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
The morning began, as did so many of their mornings, with an argument. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
The morning began, as did so many of their mornings, with an argument. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
She Will Stop at Nothing to Get Her Daughter Back,
By
This review is from: Lost (Paperback)
I have to admit that I didn't like this book very much at first and gave it a bad review, but on a second reading (many months later) I've decided to change my mind. True the book is slow going till about page fifty-five or so, but then it takes off like Thunderbolt the Wonder Colt, not slowing down for even a paragraph.Cindy Carver is having a bad morning, her aspiring actress daughter Julia is banging on the bathroom door, trying to get her sister to hurry up. Julia has an audition with a famous director and all she's thinking about is herself. The dog needs to be walked. It wasn't sister Heather in the bathroom at all, but her boyfriend, now Julia and Heather are arguing. That night Julia doesn't come home. Cindy is sure something has happened. She involves the cops. She calls the hospitals. Her ex thinks she's overreacting. Cindy goes to Julia's boyfriend's, gets his roommate to let her in, goes through his stuff, finds semi-nude photos of her daughter, then finds the beginning of a novel about a guy who is going to kill his girlfriend. She calls the cops. They can't hold him. Then a dead body turns up that matches Julia's description. It's another girl. And so on and so on. As a thriller, this book is first rate, but it also delves into the relationships of a dysfunctional family and I'm sure a lot of readers will see a lot of themselves on Fielding's pages. Fielding is a gifted writer who obviously understands people and she's written a might powerful book here. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Lose Precious Time on this Book!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lost (Audio Cassette)
I was highly displeased by this book and didn't like most of the characters. I wish I could rate this one zero stars.The story opens in the late summer of 2002 with divorced mother Cindy Carver. Cindy is a strident potty mouthed screamer who has an argument with her prima donna daughter Julia. At 21 Julia is an aspiring actress and is at sword's points with Cindy, her 19-year-old sister Heather and Heather's live-in boyfriend, Duncan. (How many parents would permit their daughter to install her live-in lover in their homes?) Prima Donna manages to get everybody's juices flowing and even refuses to walk her wheaten terrier, Elvis. She leaves in a huff for an audition with a well known director. When Julia fails to turn up for a fitting for her cousin's wedding, her equally strident aunt Leigh and her strident, domineering grandmother Norma all have the collective hissy fit. Finally she is declared a missing person and Cindy, a foul-mouthed shrew will leave no stone unturned to find her. Julia left her to move in with Tom in 1995 and only just returned to Cindy, Cindy vows she will never lose her again. The list of possible suspects is longer than one would expect. Julia's father Tom, an entertainment lawyer might have some insight. He is also a cruel, boorish oaf. An unstable neighbor and her husband are also possible suspects. The director for whom Julia auditioned is yet another. Cindy's silly, twittering movie pals are not to be crossed off the suspect list as well. Cindy's domineering mother and strident, bossy younger sister barge their way into her home during Julia's absence. There are times when one wants to smack Leigh because she is such a whiner and cries about childhood slights. She came across as bossy and abrasive. The ending was a bust and a dismal disappointment. The only character that was likable was Cindy's new boyfriend, a gentle accountant named Neil. He should be called Saint Neil for putting up with her. I didn't like the way egregious cruelty was covered up and unpunished. Cindy does some remarkably stupid things. Like idiot Gail Walton of "Life Sentence" infamy before her, Cindy takes police investigative matters into her own hands and actually attacks somebody she suspects of abducting her daughter. It is also interesting to note that Gail Walton lost a daughter named Cindy and in this book, the role is reversed - a Cindy is a parent of a missing child. Whereas Cindy Walton was murdered, Cindy Carver is a raving ninny. I also didn't like the way she nearly agreed to having an affair with Tom while Julia was missing. This is not a book that I could in good conscience ever recommend.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.1 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed...,
By Diane "dianemax" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)
I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book but after reading it all I felt was disappointment.The story follows a divorced mother who has recently "lost" her oldest daughter. The plot weaves around her anguish, which was really the only selling point in this novel, and the unraveling mystery. Unfortunately it isn't much of a mystery, certainly not one worth solving. The father's cavalier attitude throughout the book helped me to figure out the ending about mid way through. Don't waste money on this one. 11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Get Lost...,
By Jennifer Hall - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)
At the very least, if you are a fan of Joy Fielding, simply check this book out from your local library and don't actually spend the money to purchase it. It only took me one day to read the entire book, so I don't feel I wasted too much time on it. But that's the point: ultimately, this novel feels like a waste of time.The novel revolves around a divorced mother of two daughters: the oldest, Julia, is a twenty-one year old, aspiring actress, and a seemingly impossible and obstinate and instantly unlikable young woman. She begins the novel pitching a fit because she can't get into the bathroom in the morning to get ready for an audition later that day, and then disappears from her mother's life. Cindy, her long-suffering mother, spends the novel worrying about her first-born daughter, ignoring the needs of her other daughter, Heather, arguing with her mother and sister, falling in love and into bed with a new man, and wrestling with her constant thoughts and memories of her ex-husband. Mix in the plot twist of "what is happening with the couple next door?", which red herring will pop up next, and subplots coming and going, and you end up with this novel: one that ends so much with a thud you wish you'd never invested the time spent getting to that point. As readable as most of the novel is, it concludes in such an irritating and infuriating way that it's not surprising that the book will be thrown into a near wall or dropped immediately to the floor in disgust. I've liked many of Fielding's novels...this is clearly not one of them. 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed!!!,
By J. Ott, PA "jmott" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)
Joy Fielding was one of my favorite authors. Until I read this last book. I was not thrilled with Whispers and Lies, but looked forward to Lost. It appears that her talent has run out. Two books in a row that failed to capture my attention; I skimmed the last 100 pages of Lost. Character development is poor; these people are not even likeable. It will be a long time, if ever, before I'm picking up a Joy Fielding book again. It was good while it lasted.
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