James Patterson has written a love story—a powerfully moving and suspenseful novel about families, loss, new love, and hope.
Katie Wilkinson has found her perfect man at last. He's a writer, a house painter, an original thinker—everything she's imagined she wanted in a partner. But one day, without explanation, he disappears from her life, leaving behind only a diary for her to read.
This diary is a love letter written by a new mother named Suzanne for her baby son, Nicholas. In it she pours out her heart about how she and the boy's father met, about her hopes for marriage and family, and about the unparalleled joy that having a baby has brought into her life. As Katie reads this touching document, it becomes clear that the lover who has just left her is the husband and father in this young family. She reads on, filled with terror and hope, as she struggles to understand what has happened-and whether her new love has a prayer of surviving.
Patterson steps away from his usual thrillers with this romance between Matt and Suzanne, as told through a diary Suzanne writes for her baby, Nicholas. Matt gives the diary to Katie, his current love interest, as an explanation for his sudden disappearance. Becky Ann Baker rises above the predictable romance while reading Suzanne's diary. She captures the gushing new love between mother and baby without going overboard and makes the too-perfect-to-be-true love between Matt, a housepainter, and Suzanne, a doctor, believable. Baker falls a bit short, though, when reading Katie's part, making her sound more backwoods than Southern. Overall, Baker elevates Patterson's likable characters to create a compelling, though sentimental, story. H.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
...
At one point this novel makes reference to Robert James Waller's THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. This homage is no accident: It seems Patterson has created his own version of that novel. Sugary and clichéd, the plot unfolds predictably and without depth. Katie's lover leaves her suddenly, his only explanation arriving in the form of a diary dedicated to a child. An odd love triangle comes to light as the mysterious Suzanne's diary is read. Becky Ann Baker's reading is appropriate: Suzanne sounds saintly, although her rendering of Katie's Southern accent seems exaggerated at times. However, the book is easy to listen to and perfect for mindless entertainment. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine
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