Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?

Rating:
Summary: A great read _Barbara Michaels fans will love it.
Review: During a school break, Laurie Lewisohn returns to her home from Cornell University to visit her mother, Jessica, in New York City. Laurie brings her boy friend, fellow student Kevin Glade with her. Kevin, who claims to be from Vermont, comes across as the perfect menshe. This impeccable behavior, especially in one so young, leaves Jessica feeling uncomfortable. However, Jessica initially writes it off as her being an over protective Jewish mother. Kevin's poster boy behavior finally gets to Laurie, who suspects that the student is hiding something. She begins to investigate what he claims ishis personal history and quickly realizes that he is not who he says he is.

Jessica warns Laurie that something is not right with her boy friend. Laurie has already been concerned with Kevin's jealousy and possessiveness. What neither Lewisohn female knows is that Kevin has a deadly past with girl friends. No one breaks off with Kevin. He is the one who ends relationships, permanently.

MOTHER, MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? is a chilling psychological thriller because the novel emphasizes one of the worst fears a parent has: the feeling of helplessness as they observe their children dating a potentially dangerous individual. The mother and daughter are a charming and intelligent pair, and Kevin's duality of compassionate and supportive Vs obsessive and possessive behavior is brilliantly developed. Though the suspense is somewhat mitigated by the obvious thread the story line must travel, Claire Rainwater Jacobs has written a nightmare thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: The only question you ask yourself after reading "Mother, Can I Sleep With Danger?" is this: Why did Jacobs write it? Let's face it; there must be literally hundreds of American TV movies on the exact same theme, and although Jacobs' portrait of an emotionally disturbed young man is better than those found in the TV scripts, that says a lot more about the 'quality' of the movies than it does about Jacobs' skills as a writer. Her latest book is simply one, big cliché and utterly predictable all the way from page one to the end. My suggestion: read Thomas Harris' "Hannibal" instead. It might be less realistic (mr Lecter has more in common with Anti-Christ himself than he has with your average serial killer), but at least Harris' book is much more more interesting and entertaining than "Mother, Can I Sleep With Danger?"...

Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: The only question you ask yourself after reading "Mother, Can I Sleep With Danger?" is this: Why did Jacobs write it? Let's face it; there must be literally hundreds of American TV movies on the exact same theme, and although Jacobs' portrait of an emotionally disturbed young man is better than those found in the TV scripts, that says a lot more about the 'quality' of the movies than it does about Jacobs' skills as a writer. Her latest book is simply one, big clich? and utterly predictable all the way from page one to the end. My suggestion: read Thomas Harris' "Hannibal" instead. It might be less realistic (mr Lecter has more in common with Anti-Christ himself than he has with your average serial killer), but at least Harris' book is much more more interesting and entertaining than "Mother, Can I Sleep With Danger?"...

Rating:
Summary: A suspense thriller with a convoluted but well-executed plot
Review: The plot line of this book is essentially that of many others - girl meets boy who is homicidal maniac and although others warn her (and she's by no means a stupid girl) she almost loses her life by believing the best, not the worst. The characters are sympathetically drawn - I particularly liked the grandmother - and the personality of the killer comes across very well. The plot focuses around the killer having taken the name of someone he admired, resulting in a case of mistaken identity which delays identifying the killer until it is almost too late. While some licence is taken with regard to getting one of the witnesses to come forward, and some sudden confessions appear felicitous, the book is well plotted, suspenseful and the mother is a particularly resourceful woman - an excellent role model for all mothers of teenage girls out there. I enjoyed this book enough to look for others by the same author, but so far haven't found any (my library's catalogue system was off-line today)