Dreams of Rescue : A Novel

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Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy of this book, and disappeared into it like someone in a trance. Julianna Durrell is an actress best known for her victim roles in the TV subgenre known as FemJep (insider slang for "female in jeopardy.") As the book opens, Julianna is spending the winter in her summer home, with her marriage literally on ice after a violent encounter with her husband. With an order of protection that barely protects, she is thrust into the unfamiliar world of a gritty off-season resort whose small-town courtrooms barely resemble the TV version she knows so well. This is a smart literary thriller that both satisfies and reimagines the conventions of its genre. Cunningham writes like an angel -- her frozen landscapes are unforgettable.

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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: a STUNNER! I PULLED AN ALL NIGHTER TO READ IT!
Review: This novel is involving and well worth reading. The writing is truly top drawer. There were a few notes that rang false, however.

I was very happy to see domestic violence treated as it actually unfurls within our justice system. Her description of the shame engendered by a violent loved one was on the mark. No matter how much life threatening violence is forecast, meeted out by the one you love most, such violence still takes you by surprise .

However, I was disappointed by the ending. I didn't really understand how, in light of the nightmare she experienced, the protagonist would adopt a child and live in the same house and under the same name. After all, hadn't the local police proved themselves incompetent? The home was isolated. What was to keep ex-hubby from doing to her child as he did to the cat?

In actual domestic violence situations you don't just rescue yourself, you then run for your life.

More mainstream literature and film should focus intelligently on this issue. The men we love are the most likely to imperil us. The judicial system, overwhelmingly controlled by men, is invested in taking the man's side. Thinking our present court system works is truly dreaming of rescue.

Further note: Quinlin's "Black and Blue" should not be missed, if you enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: a STUNNER! I PULLED AN ALL NIGHTER TO READ IT!
Review: WONDROUS ACCOUNT OF BATTERED BRIDE/MOVIE STAR WHO FIGHTS BACK. SMART AND CLEVERLY WRITTEN --ANY WOMAN WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THIS WILL RECOGNIZE THE ACCURACY OF THE MIND GAMES, THE DANGERS OF LOVING THE WRONG MAN, THE SUBTLETY OF REAL ABUSE. THE WEDDING CAKE FROZEN HOUSE & HISTORICAL SUB PLOT ARE ICINGS ON A DELICIOUS CAKE. I DEVOURED IT AND IT INCREASED MY SENSE OF SELF WORTH!