"DEAD CERTAIN A Novel by Charlotte Broden
For my sister, Ella...because
CHAPTER ONE
Even in the beginning, I wondered about the end. I could envision only two outcomes, with nothing in between: happily-ever-after with a man I love, or my entire world blown to hell."
-from the novel-within-the-novel
I haven't read a thriller in a while and this one certainly was! Definitely a change of pace.
Ella Broden, attorney-at-law, meets her sister Charlotte for lunch in the beginning pages of the novel. Charlotte shares the good news that she has a partially-finished novel that has been accepted for publication. It just happens to be titled Dead Certain. She gives a manuscript to Ella to read. The next day, Charlotte's live-in boyfriend reports her missing. Ella enlists the help of NYPD detective and former lover Gabriel Velasquez to help her find her sister.
As it turns out Charlotte's novel is somewhat autobiographical in that the protagonist has a lawyer sister and is romantically involved with 3 men, thinly veiled representatives of the multiple lovers of Charlotte herself. When Ella realizes this, she begins trying to discern which of Charlotte's actual lovers could be implicated in her disappearance. The plot takes some twists and turns but I did predict the culprit perhaps half-way through the book. No spoilers though!
I am giving the book a 4 rating. I admit to being captured by the story. The novel-within-the-novel was an interesting technique but when another narrator is introduced, three first-person narratives get a bit confusing. There is some rather tedious repetition as the reader gets the same event from two perspectives but they sound almost the same. I thought the author did a creditable job of writing from a woman's (actually two women's) point(s) of view. I do think I would read more by this author.
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