Die for You

Customer Reviews

• What If...?  Jun 3, 2009 (10 of 10 found this helpful)

  Here's a great premise: What if you were a happily married woman whose seemingly perfect husband went off to work one morning...and vanished? Well, you'd go nuts--even after you began to learn a few odd things about Mr. Right. You'd hound the authorities, maybe crash a crime scene--which, of course, would make you look as suspicious as your missing spouse. Then you'd decide to solve the mystery yourself--even if that decision could get you killed....
  
  Lisa Unger is a new favorite of mine. I discovered her last year with BLACKOUT, and I could hardly wait for this one. The emphasis here is more on plot and action than character development, but it's a good choice if you're in the mood for fast-paced, well-written suspense. Try it.

• "The screaming just went on... until the line went suddenly dead."  Jun 2, 2009 (6 of 6 found this helpful)

  
  
  New Yorker Isabel Raine has made peace with the single life when she meets her charming, somewhat enigmatic Prague-born husband, Marcus. After five years, the romance is still fresh, Isabel a much published author, Marcus a successful software designer. Why then does Marcus walk away from their home one morning never to return? After a night of anxiety, fear and rage, Isabel begins a desperate search for her husband that leaves her reeling and distraught. After a run-in with the FBI at Marcus' office, a brutal attack and a concussion, the trashing of her home and assorted dead bodies, Isabel balks at revealing all her secrets to the police, crashing blindly through crime scenes in search of clues. Isabel's intransigence draws everyone in her family into a vortex of violence, all put at risk as Isabel compulsively races from one conclusion to another. While her stubbornness may ultimately reveal the answers she needs, Isabel's hubris does not make for a likable protagonist.
  
  Luckily, Isabel's impetuous and provocative actions are tempered by her sister, Linda, an artist/photographer with a healthy marriage and two children. But even Linda has feet of clay in this tale, both girls traumatized by a childhood incident that haunts them still. In contrast to Isabel's abrasiveness, Linda is all the more sympathetic, bravely supporting her younger sister in spite of an unraveling personal life, one character's flaws balanced against another's. In an attempt to tether the plot to the possible, the voice of a young detective injects another perspective, Grady Crowe battling his own demons and marital disharmony while chasing Isabel from one crime scene to another. Perhaps it is the author's choice of protagonist-as-writer that burdens the story with too much detail and not enough nuance, the sometimes tedious rationalization of aberrant behavior in service of plot.
  
  Without doubt, Unger is a talented storyteller. Although this bizarre cast- successful New York women, a rogue husband, a deranged stalker and a female adversary with blood in her eye- requires some suspension of belief, the novel exhibits the energy of Unger's other work: I find it necessary to make a conscious decision to follow Unger's lead. With unusual plot twists and the random threats of suspicious characters, count on Unger to deliver a compelling version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Would I like more depth in her characters? Sure. But I'll settle for a few hours of a fast-paced mystery from a very consistent writer. Luan Gaines/2009.
  
  

• An Easy and Enjoyable Summer Read... 3.5 Stars  Jul 12, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

  This is Lisa Unger's fourth novel, I've read them all. I loved her first two, 'Beautiful Lies' and 'Sliver of Truth' and this one was enjoyable and easy to read. But I thought it lacked some of the polish in pace and detail that her other novels have.
  
  This is the story of Isabel Connelly Raine an accomplished author who's husband disappears. Isabel's world is turned upside down as she discovers that her husband has betrayed her in every way possible.
  
  The narration alternates between Isabel's first person perspective and a third person narrative which I sometimes found distracting. I also found the themes of trust and independence painted throughout in a somewhat heavy handed way. While the suicide of Isabel's father was very realistically portrayed, there was one extra layer of trauma and suspense in this story that seemed one too many to me.
  
  I liked this book, It was an easy read but the characters weren't as realistic as others Unger has created. If you like suspense novels you will probably like this but if you just like good fiction I would urge you to read Lisa Unger's 'Beautiful Lies'. I thought that was so well done, just an excellent book.

• Her best book...  Jun 17, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

  I would like to re-write the inside cover for her publisher...you'll think you've read this plot before. But, Lisa Unger has added twists and turns that no one would have guessed. And she answers the question "Why?" asked by each of the characters and the reader. Can't wait until her next book..she gets better with each of her novels.

• Mindful of the Goldie Hawn movie Deceived  Jun 4, 2009 (3 of 4 found this helpful)

  Novelist Isabel Connelly and high tech game designer Marcus Raines have been happily married for five years and seem deeply in love. Marcus leaves their Manhattan apartment for work after telling Isabel he loves her. He never made it to work nor comes home. Panic stricken, when she finally receives a call that she assumes was from him, she hears a terrified man screaming. She rushes to the police, but they offer nothing as they insist it is probably a nasty prank by her spouse.
  
  Isabel rejects the official position as she believes her Marcus loves her and would not desert her. She goes to his office only to find the FBI raiding the place; in the melee she is knocked out. She regains consciousness in a hospital where she learns all of Marcus's associates are dead and he remains unaccounted for. She checks their finances only to find zero in their accounts. Police Detective Grady Crowe digs deeper into the background of Isabel's husband only to be shocked that Marcus Unger died years ago.
  
  Mindful of the Goldie Hawn movie Deceived, DIE FOR YOU is an exhilarating thriller starring a fascinating heroine who after the initial shock needs to know who her husband really is and why the deception. When the story line stays focus on disappearances and reactions to it, this is a super tale. However, when the plot contains unnecessary cul de sacs especially about the personal lives of support players, it loses momentum. Still overall Lisa Unger provides an engaging tale of spousal deceit.
  
  Harriet Klausner