Monday, December 09, 2013

The Question being -- is a monster raised or created? The Answer to Your Question by Paulette Alden addresses this burning question in a brilliant novel.

the ANSWER to your QUESTION a novel by Paulette Alden

The Question being -- is a monster raised or created? The Answer to Your Question by Paulette Alden addresses this burning question in a brilliant novel.
 

The Answer to Your Question by Paulette Alden

How well can you really know the people you love, even your own son? Four young women are murdered, and he's the suspect . . . 

After raising her son, Ben, as a single parent, librarian Inga Daudelin is blindsided when he is accused of the murders of four young women.
At the same time, Jean, a young, pregnant waif who seems both simple and wise, "imprints" on Inga at work, drawing her into an unusual friendship.
When Ben kidnaps Jean, Inga and lead detective Ron O'Loughlin, with whom she is falling in love, search for the two, who along with Jean's baby, have formed a strange but human family. 

"This wonderful novel is a success at every level--an engrossing thriller and a nuanced examination of love--written with artful directness. I loved every word and could not put it down." -- Scott Turow

THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION is the winner of The Kindle Book Review's 2013 Best Indie Book Award in the suspense category

NetGalley/Radiator Press.

Fiction. 2013. Print version: 250 pages

My review:

Every now and again I am absolutely delighted with the fact that I read books that attracts my attention without reading the blurb etc.  This is such a book.
Inga, one of our two main protagonists is a woman with an ageless question burning away at her soul -- was her son a monster since birth or did she create him?
Jean is a young girl with a degree of naivety that I at first found irritating and later a perfect contrast to Inga's growth toward love and self forgiveness. 
I was most impressed with the authors' ability to make the story of Inga totally ageless.  She might be alive today, dealing with this right this second or she could be dealing with her situation 200 years ago.
It is Jean that places the story within a time frame in an age of turmoil it is the inner turmoil that she most efficiently plays off against idealism and realism in a time of war.  I found this brilliant and for that alone the book deserves 5*.

Inga shows real growth in this book again played off against the growth of Jean in the same time period and the time they spend apart is the time they grow the most and relies on their friendship to pull them through the most.  Brilliant.
The book did drag on a wee bit toward the end.  I think it would have had as much punch if it was a chapter or three shorter.  That said… I don’t care.  I loved it and could not put it down.


1 comment:

  1. Wanda, I'm thrilled that you enjoyed ANSWER and that you posted about it here. Thank you! It's just wonderful to get an engaged, thoughtful and appreciative reader like you! I know it's some trouble to write a review, and post it to Amazon and this blog--and I'm very grateful. Best, Paulette

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