“I’d Know You Anywhere” by Laura Lippman
A while-ago suggestion for me from The Biblioracle, I finally got around to I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman. I first read Lippman as part of The Morning News Tournament of books, and really enjoyed her What the Dead Know. She has a long-standing series, but these are both standalone books, and ones that stand out, as well. It’s strongly plotted, solidly written, fast paced, well characterized, and a thumping good read.
Eliza Bennet is living a good life with a husband and two kids in suburban Maryland when she gets a letter from a man she used to know. The twists? Walter is a killer on death row. He kidnapped her when she was fifteen. Unlike the other two girls he’s known to have killed, he left her alive.
It’s told in back and forth focus on Eliza and Walter, with a few other characters thrown in. As the date approached for Walter’s execution, Eliza struggles with remembering the past as well as dealing with mundane things like her teen daughter’s rebellion and her younger son’s nightmares. Lippman ratchets the tension and throws in enough believable detail that I was kept guessing till the end, which was a very satisfying one, I thought.