Rating: 
Summary: Completely absorbing
Review: This is one of the best books I've read in recent months. I was absorbed about the story of a woman recovering from a breakdown who goes to live on an island and rebuild the house on it. Are her terrors real or is someone else on the island?
Rating:
Summary: A traumatized woman confronts her demons while living alone
Review: This lovely novel builds slowly but surely, weaving a spell around the reader. I particularly like the fact that the author has focused the book around a woman who has suffered from depression and even outright psychosis at certain points in her life. And yet she doesn't seem frightening or weird but simply as a person who is doing her best in spite of the challenges she faces, both emotional and otherwise. This woman, Rae Newborn, has had a difficult life. Her periodic depressions, breaks with reality and unpredictable behavior have left her realtionship with her daughter (the product of an early marriage) severely strained. She has a son-in-law who is equally unloving and on the verge of keeping her grand-daughter from her, a girl Rae loves dearly. And there have been other troubles, deep ones, in Rae's life - crises I won't reveal here (not wanting to spoil the story). The past and recent pains in Rae's life have left her shell-shocked and fearful. Still, she's a resilient woman and she decides the best way to cure her pain is to confront it head on, with no one to turn to for support except herself. She moves to an island and decides to build a home which was started by another member of her family, long ago. And that's when things come to a climax - although it's a climax that builds gradually, allowing the reader to get to know Rae and her past more fully. I found this to be an extremely satisfying read, one that left me feelng as if I knew Rae quite well. I also liked the fact that the author did a fine job of demystifying mental illness. I felt drawn to Rae, to her courage and her willingness to take huge risks to become the person she wanted to be.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent story about a woman's redemption.
Review: This magnificent and complex novel details the retreat of King's main character to a remote island. On her island, she will rebuild an old house as well as herself. The book provides some construction details and successfully uses them as an allegory to the heroin's reconstruction of herself.
Rating: 
Summary: Folly/Sanctuary? Not quite--
Review: This venture into the world of clinical depression is also an overburdened plot with too many incomplete digressions. The protagonist, Rae Newborn, is a fascinating character, and her struggles with mental illness well developed. However, the villans of the piece seem to be fathers. Rae's grandfather, her father, her son-in-law (father of her granddaughter), Rae's first husband, and the abusive fathers of the "vanished" children are the demons whose influence causes pain, death, and misery. Although Rae's second husband (Alan) is supposed to be a "good" father, he is unable to "fill the black hole" in his son by a former marriage. The subplots and sub-subplots complicate the book and leave the reader with some confusion. What happens between Jerry and Nikki (the sheriff and the park ranger)? What about Jerry's brother, Allen? And the disappearing (vanished) children who are victims of their fathers' abuse? The book is worth reading, and some parts of it are lyrical and lovely. However, it is surely not King's best work and not nearly so much a psychological thriller as a study of being, literally and figurately, "new-born" after depression and trauma.
Rating:
Summary: A fine book about a woman's journey back to self
Review: Though he bravely fought in Europe during World War I, Desmond Newborn knows his efforts darken his soul. When he returns home he suffers from battle fatigue and leaves his wealthy California family to roam the countryside until settling on a barren island in the San Juan Straits. Just when he finishes building his home, a fire destroys the edifice. Desmond vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. Desmond's grandniece Rae Newborn suffers from clinical depression. She inherits Desmond's island, dubbed "Folly". She intends to rebuild the house all by herself, as she believes that might help her cope with the loss of her husband and child and the resultant stay in a psychiatric ward. If she fails at this monumental task, Rae plans to end it all. Laurie R. King is known for her police procedurals and thrillers. However, stepping into a different genre, the versatile author looks at one person's fight with a crippling mental illness that threatens to engulf her grip on reality. Readers will walk alongside and encourage Rae as she gradually takes one step forward only to stumble back two steps. Folly is an inspiring tale that brings the hope that in the darkest night daylight remains attainable. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not for everyone, but definitely a winner for me.
Review: While I can see that some readers would be turned off by this intricate psychological study of a woman recovering from a severe episode of depression, it was fascinating to me. There is very little conventional suspense in this novel, although there is a villain dragged in towards the end -- but the novel revolves around Rae Newborn's struggle against her demons and against her own fears of being "crazy" -- and her discovery of her great-uncle Desmond's similar struggle (he had been shell-shocked in WWI, and left his wealthy family to become a "bum" before settling on Folly's Island and then disappearing after a fire destroyed the home he'd built) -- there are passages from Desmond's journal and from Rae's which parallel each other, giving the readers insight into both characters' worlds. I felt the ending was a little rushed but that the novel as a whole was worth reading -- particularly if you or someone you know has suffered from clinical depression -- even though the descriptions of Rae's episodes are stark, the fact that she does climb out of it makes the whole book seem hopeful.
Rating:
Summary: Should be on Oprah's List!
Review: WOW! I love the way the story slowly unfolds, increasing in depth and mystery. I've visited the San Juans twice and envied Rae's sojurn there, although not during winter or roughing it. I highly recommend this book, although I don't think it's the thriller others did. Very good story, great characters, good mystery about Uncle Desmond, and some suspense at the end. Laurie King is an intelligent writer.
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