"Save Me" Review

Save Me

by Lisa Scottoline

10/10

My Synopsis:

Rose McKenna has volunteered as a lunch aide at her daughter Melly’s school.  Melly has been the victim of bullying at the hands of her classmate Amanda.  Another bullying incident happens before Rose’s very eyes and sends Melly crying to the bathroom down the hall.  While the other children have left for the playground, Rose has kept Amanda and her two friends in the cafeteria to discuss the issue.  Just as she is addressing the situation – BOOM! – the cafeteria explodes in a ball of fire and smoke.  Rose must now make a heart-wrenching decision, get the bully and her friends to safety or attempt to rescue her own daughter.  What would you do?

My Opinion:

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline may just be the perfect book.  Filled with great characters, wonderful details, nail biting suspense and relationships that are easily felt personally, she has created a wonderful novel that is exquisite.  The characterizations were awesome.  I loved Rose, Melly, John and Kristen.  I was able to envision every character and setting.  The writing is perfection – not one word too little or one word too many.  It is a definite page-turner to say the least.  Ms. Scottoline kept me guessing throughout the whole novel right up to the end.  She wraps up all the loose ends and ties them with a bow to make for the perfect ending.  I originally thought this would be a book for women given the mother/daughter relationship being central to the theme, but the relationship could be understood and felt by father’s and even those without children.  There is plenty of mystery and action to satiate the appetite of crime thriller readers as well as those looking for a devoted mother story.  Ms. Scottoline’s writing is very similar to Jodi Picoult.  She brings in aspects of the law and the courts but explains it all as she goes for those of us who don’t know about that stuff.  She is also similar to Picoult in her ability to take the reader into the story and make them genuinely care about the characters and the outcome.  A must read!  10/10!