Rating: 
Summary: The Truth Will Set You Free?
Review: Truth can be a like an LSD trip (so I hear), just the right amount can make life appear more colorful, simpler, more free. In excessive doses truth, like LSD, can drive you crazy! Meet Martha Horgan, the most honest lunatic in Atkinson. Through Marth's experience we learn that the plain, simple truth is neither plan nor simple and in many cases not welcome. We also learn that many people reshape and rearrange facts to develop a truth that they can live with. Although I have a great deal of admiration for the writing ability of Morris, I must admit that A Dangerous Woman was a rather laborious read, the superb dialogue couldn't compensate for the predictable plot. I recommend the book for corporate professionals and attorneys, both groups notorious for reconstructing facts to suit personal agendas. For a better view of Morris' work, read Vanished.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll be annoyed, but keep going . . .
Review: Within the first fifty pages or so, I was totally aggravated by Martha. She has suffered a traumatic childhood and adolescence, sure - but could she be any more annoying? It was easy to understand how the people around her react as they do, and why children still taunt her in the street now that she's a woman of thirty. It's as if there is some socially-deficient fog clouding her brain, making her honest to the point of incurring violence. She remains, to the end, an unlikable character. That, however, is part of what makes her story a fascinating read. I resisted the urge to toss this book aside in favor of the Ramsey Campbell paperback sitting on my nightstand, and by the hundredth page I was still annoyed by Martha - but I had to know what would become of her. From the opening paragraph, we know that she's going to kill someone . . . but who? and why? and will she lose her painful sense of honesty? Morris does a fine job of getting the reader inside Martha's head, (much in the same way that Mr. Campbell does), though very unobtrusively. It was only toward the end of the book that I found myself, while still disliking Martha, at least understanding her. I even felt a passing moment of triumph when she held to her grating sense of truth in the final pages. This is not one of those books I would keep on my shelf for future re-readings - I honestly couldn't bear Martha for another 300 pages - but it makes me wish I hadn't sold Ms. Morris' VANISHED to the used book-store without ever reading it.
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