Rating: 
Summary: Winter's perils
Review: Laura Shaine Cunningham has previously authored two volumes of memoirs (SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS, A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY) and a work of fiction (BEAUTIFUL BODIES). DREAMS OF RESCUE is her first book in the "mystery" genre.It's the dead of winter, and Juliana Smythe is alone in her summer house, an 1899 Victorian, overlooking Lake Bonticou. Juliana, an actress in cinematic thrillers she collectively calls FemJep (translated as "women in peril"), is separated from her husband Matt after an incident of volcanic domestic violence on New Year's Eve for which Juliana was granted a protection order by the court. Now it's February, and there are to be additional hearings. Juliana's trepidation is almost palpable. Does she have enough money to pay the lawyers? Will the court discontinue the protection order? Will Matt return to the house, protection order or not, and again visit his rage on his wife? Juliana shares with the reader memories of her marriage, from her first date with Matt seventeen years previous, through the spring, summer and fall of the relationship to the present, the agonizing winter. At one point, Juliana muses: "How long does it take an eighteen-year-old girl to fall in love? About ten minutes." (That's about nine minutes longer than a testosterone-fueled, eighteen-year-old boy brought to a halt by a whiff of perfume and a view of bare skin.) As an actress that sees her life as an extended movie script, Juliana DREAMS OF RESCUE - by the kindly lawyer or psychologist or next-door neighbor who'll sweep her into his arms and protect and love her. But reality isn't like that, is it? What's High Drama on the Silver Screen reduces to the mundane in the day-to-day drudge. This is to be Juliana's learning curve. I was immediately intrigued as to the nature of the "Thing in the Box", a piece of evidence Juliana is to present at the next court hearing that will surely convince the judge of Matt's psychological instability. What a clever tease for the reader! I'm one of the author's biggest fans, having given five stars to all of her previous works. This time, however, I'm bereft to report something less. By the time the nature of the "Thing in the Box" is revealed, the main plot thread has been frayed by tangential events. What's with the creepy vacuum repairman, who, on a housecall to service Juliana's Supralux 699, may have committed the sin of Onan on her mohair shawl? Or the mysterious neighbor across the lake who watches her with a telescope? Or the pervert who breathes heavily over the phone on late night calls? And what about those seven young girls found naked and frozen to death on the lake's ice back in the late 1890s? Was it murder most foul? Indeed, with all the other enigmas resolving themselves, the final court confrontation with Matt is anticlimactic. The storyline, while not becoming uninteresting, just lost its focus, and I finished the book feeling vaguely unsatisfied. I suspect that there's a lot of Laura in Juliana, especially evident when the latter remembers the loss of her mother at an early age (as the author recalls in SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS). In any case, Cunningham's forte in all her books has been describing her protagonist's feelings. And this reader was immediately absorbed into Juliana's emotional life. I cared about her throughout. For that reason alone, I'm awarding four stars, and hope Laura will understand.
Rating: 
Summary: Dream Novel
Review: Looking for a great read, can do no better than this hypnotic story of an actress's mysterious marriage. Thrillingly written by a well known memoirist...
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful marriage drama
Review: Part marriage drama, part suspense thriller, this novel follows the story of a B-list "female-in-jeopardy" actress whose life seems to be paralleling those of the victims she plays, during the course of her divorce proceedings from her abusive husband. A good, suspenseful read.
Rating:
Summary: Chill out with brilliance
Review: Read this on a hot hot night and it cooled me off better than central ac. Chilling tale of loving wife, abusive hubby and exquisite snowbound setting...She's a movie star, and now maybe more than one man is after her. Very suspenseful, satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Heroine to love - on my Best List
Review: She may be typecast in film but not in life -- when her husband has a breakdown that threatens her, this actress fights for her life, against astounding odds. I felt for her, was breathless at the Victorian imagery in modern life...Like a fine lace, this white on white story of marital terror held me in its thrall. Best book this year!
Rating:
Summary: Classic suspense with new twists
Review: Spooky and smart, this novel is even better than the last one by this author...Also shows entertaining can also be intelligent! No dumb-downs. Doesn't condescend to readers with its vivid picture of an terrified wife, who played movie heroines in distress, now up against her own husband. the real thing. Kept me guessing until the very satisfying end...Burning Midnight oil. Loved, loved, loved the Victorian and Contemporary mix as Juliana inhabits the old "Wedding Cake House' built for a bride whose marriage also became troubled...
Rating:
Summary: Winter wonderland with compelling truth and beauty
Review: The snowy cover drew me with its image of the longing woman in the window. I was not disappointed -- far from it, I was thrilled as the heroine, a star of frightened women flicks, is scared of her husabnd. But she is shaken up in court when they haul out her films -- is she acting? Or she is impressionable? Or has her life started to imitate her art? A reality lesson for women en route to court to defend themselves against abusive husbands.
Intelligent, well composed and spine-tingly. The atmosphere is rich, in comparing the gothic resort to our gritty polyester realities.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning Sensuous Literate Thriller
Review: The story of the film star whose roles seem to cast her, rather than vice versa, had me sleepless with hot cocoa in bed for two nights in a row. The hairpin turns, and unexpected twists kept me guessing, as did the in depth, exquisite portrait of the heroine. This is literature but so entertaining! Also a heartbreaking account of a marriage run amok, and the true sorrow of living with an insane spouse. The author is the famous memoirist who wrote Sleeping Arrangements. What a range! I'm, awestruck. An unforgettable, thrilling reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: Entrancing marriage mystery
Review: This book will be famous for its ingenius plot and exquisite prose, but what I like best is the way it strips the mask off a respectable marriage. It was interesting that the heroine is an actress who wears her movie costume to court, but it is the bittersweet marriage that haunts me. I cried.
Rating:
Summary: lacy lovely literate
Review: This delicately written account of a lovely woman trapped in her awful marriage, is one of the best i've read in years. I found it a subtle satire on the movie business of Fem Jep (female in jeopardy) as well... My book club found it, and it has been a stimulating choice!
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