Sleeping Beauty - Hardcover

Margolin, Phillip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060083263 ISBN 13: 9780060083267

Publisher: Harper, 2004

Synopsis

Author Miles Van Meter is on a book tour to promote his sensational bestseller Sleeping Beauty, a true-crime account of a deeply personal subject: the attack by a serial killer that left his twin sister, Casey, in a coma. Tonight the audience waits to hear Miles discuss recent developments in his sister's case -- unaware that pieces of this complex puzzle of violence, unknown even to the author, are about to be revealed.

Six years earlier, life was much simpler for everyone involved, especially seventeen-year-old Ashley Spencer, a popular high school soccer star. Then one night an intruder entered Ashley's home and murdered her father and her best friend. Traumatized and suffering from a crippling sense of survivor guilt, Ashley is ready to give up on both soccer and life until help comes from an unexpected source -- a scholarship to the Oregon Academy, an elite private school, is extended to her by school dean Casey Van Meter. The school quickly becomes a haven for both Ashley and her mother, Terri. As Ashley regains her sense of self through the school's soccer program, Terri joins a writing group for adults led by Joshua Maxfield, a former literary wunderkind who has disappeared from the bestseller lists since his second book was panned by both critics and fans.

Then tragedy strikes again and Ashley has to run for her life, unaware that the key to her survival is in the one book she's afraid to read -- Sleeping Beauty.

With its blend of dizzying plot twists and thrilling suspense, Sleeping Beauty shows Phillip Margolin at the very top of his form.

About this title

About the Author

Phillip Margolin has written nineteen novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including his latest novels Woman with a Gun, Worthy Brown’s Daughter, Sleight of Hand, and the Washington trilogy. Each displays a unique, compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior, which comes from his long background as a criminal defense attorney who has handled thirty murder cases. Winner of the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

From AudioFile

Suzanne Houston begins reading in a clear, lively voice but soon loses her way in cardboard characters, inane dialogue, and uninspired situations. However, when the bailiff raps his gavel at the start of the courtroom scene later in the book, Houston moves into high gear again, bringing the characters' voices to life with dialogue that is tense and spirited. The plot still remains problematic--the "shocking ending" isn't, a particularly heinous crime is predictable and lacks drama, and many obvious clues are overlooked in the trial. Yet Margolin's ability to pace the courtroom material, coupled with Houston's riveting reading of it, makes the last 100 pages worth every listening moment. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060083263
• ISBN 13: 9780060083267
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336