Sunburn

Laura Lippman has brought out her 24th novel crime, Sunburn (Morrow, $26.99). She’s a real pro having won an Edgar Prize and more than 50 other awards for her intriguing thrillers. Sunburn begins with an immediate twist. Thirty-year-old Polly walks out on her boring, emotionally vacant husband and their three-year old daughter. What woman could be so indifferent to her child? Polly packs very little and even leaves her car behind and hitchhikes away early in the morning, making her harder to track.
The scene shifts to good looking guy walking into semi-deserted bar in a small town in Nowhere Delaware. He sits one bar stool away from a beautiful woman, Polly, sporting sunburned shoulders. The man thinks she spent a day at the beach, but she got burned trudging along the highway. They speak briefly but, in another twist—nothing happens.

It turns out they are both staying at the same motel across the road from the bar. They briefly nod at each other one more time and contrary to the reader’s expectations, once again, nothing happens. The sexual tension builds.

Polly, the woman of mystery, lands a job at the bar as a waitress. Soon Adam also gets hired during the summer busy season as a cook. The next twist is a real grabber—Adam is actually a private investigator hired by a mysterious person in Baltimore named Irving. He has hired Adam to “get to know” Polly. Irving thinks Polly has absconded with considerable money that may or may not belong to him.

As the book unfolds we learn more about Irving—he is a slum lord whose well-insured   property occasionally burns down, forcing him to collect on the insurance. We also learn that Polly once stabbed her husband to death and spent some time in prison before getting a pardon from the governor as the victim of spousal abuse. We figure out that Irving and the deceased fire investigator had quite a racket.

Adam comes across as the good guy who at first is reluctant to get personal with Polly. Of course, eventually something happens and the love story is off and running. But before Adam and Polly get it on, another woman who works at the place seduces Adam and claims him for her own. For a small-town bar, it seems a pretty exciting place. Unfortunately, girl #2, Cath, runs afoul of the possessive Polly.

Despite their dalliance Adam continues to snoop on Polly, following her to Baltimore where she visits a mysterious home. Then another private investigator shows up—this one hired by Polly’s ex-husband to find her and make her take custody of the kid she abandoned.

It all gets deliciously complicated and one is tempted to take notes. Despite her many legal troubles Polly is sympathetic, a kind of anti-heroine and we pull for her. Adam is prepared to abandon his career as a PI to marry Polly and stay in the one-stoplight town. Something though makes the reader distrust Polly and wonder if she is going to double-cross or even kill Adam.

It’s a good read, entertaining, though sometimes told without much emotion. Perhaps that is what Lippman wants us to see in her protagonist—a cold-hearted and manipulative woman who uses sex as a weapon. Overall a solid B.

Steve E Clark  as seen in the New York Times is Author of  Justice Is for the Lonely  and  Justice Is for the Deserving,  Kristen Kerry Novels Of Suspense. You can purchase his books via SteveClarkAuthor.com/BuyBook or request it at your local book store.  Want to know more about Steve Clark, read more reviews or speak directly with Steve?  Learn more about Steve at SteveClarkAuthor.com