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Somebody's Baby
This enticing tale revolves around a kidnapping, which occurred three decades before the action commences; it is resolved when a mother's deathbed confession leads her daughter, Snow, on a search for her natural mother. Snow, snatched in a New York City grocery store by the woman who raised her in a small Rhode Island town, faces a dual mystery--the identity of her natural mother and the real nature and name of the woman who raised her. The first mystery is readily solved via library research and police files. Naturally, her birth mother turns out to be an acclaimed artist, her mirror image, and a loving, fascinating person. Together they dodge reporters, give a single news conference, and shun potential moneymaking options--TV movies, talk shows, etc. After all, Snow is now a millionaire thanks to her late mother's confession. The second mystery is left unsatisfyingly open. Snow's about-face nonchalance, her "I may never know" attitude, does not suit the character Vale has so carefully scripted and is a letdown for the readers. Still, the story is well contrived, peopled with characters the reader could know, and breathtakingly paced. Denise Perry Donavin
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Grace Notes
Was she helping a woman in danger . . . or walking into a dangerous trap? Early in her marriage Grace Loring became the victim of her husband's sudden, unpredictable rages. Taking her infant daughter and a few belongings, Grace fled to the safety of her brother Gus's home in Vermont. Now, years later, Grace is a successful author. Accustomed to abused women writing to ask for advice, Grace is sympathetic when she is contacted by a troubled young woman named Stephanie Baine. In the course of their e-mail correspondence, Stephanie reveals details of a nightmarish life -- her terrifying abduction as a teenager, the psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Grace's advice is clear: Stephanie must do whatever is necessary to escape this madman. After several weeks of an intensive exchange, the e-mails abruptly stop, and Grace begins to fear the worst for Stephanie. Then the e-mails resume, and what Grace learns casts doubt on everything she believed. Who is Stephanie Baine? Has anything she's told Grace been the truth? Is she really a young woman in danger, or is something else -- something sinister, even deadly -- going on?