This quick suspense read has a good premise: Casey Marshall, a 32-year old successful, happily married woman is injured in a hit-and-run accident and goes into a coma. She can’t see, she can’t move, she can’t talk, and yet she can hear. No one knows this however. And soon, from the conversations by her bedside, she discovers her injury was no accident, and her loved ones are not who she thought they were.
This book was quite entertaining. Frankly, I was surprised it wasn’t more “pulpy.” In spite of Casey’s dire circumstances, she retains a droll sense of humor about her situation. I also liked Casey’s attempts to match voices she hears of people she doesn’t know (like doctors and nurses) with their appearances as she imagines them. And you even get to hear some of George Eliot’s Middlemarch, since one of Casey’s friends reads from it to her on hospital visits. You suspect what might happen, and yet there are still some surprises at the end after a suspenseful build-up.
Evaluation: Just right for an airport, a readathon, or a beach book.
Rating: 3.5/5
Published by Atria Books, 2009
Rhapsody in Books Weblog 
I’ve read a couple of Fielding’s thrillers, and you are right, they are very entertaining. I rarely remember much about them a month later, but it is fun while it is going on!
I thought this one was pretty good too. I remember being surprised, I’d expected massive lameness, and didn’t think the concept was a workable one.
I admit this premise does sound really interesting, but I have one huge question: why can’t she see?!?! Did something happen to her eyes during the accident, or does it have a neural basis?
I believe it was just the trauma to the brain. The surprising thing, medically speaking, was that she could hear.
This sounds very entertaining. Reminds me of the most frightening TV show I ever saw. I think it was Twilight Zone. Anyway Joseph Cotton had been in a car accident and appeared dead but was not. He was very much alive but couldn’t indicate it in any way. Got all the way to the morgue before he was so devastated that he cried – and someone saw the tears. Gives me goosebumps just to think of it.
I a not much for thrillers, but this one sounds a bit different from the pack. I do like the synopsis and think that this just might make a lovely read for the beach. Thanks for the spotlight on this book. I probably would have never heard about it elsewhere.
I read a book with the same title, but it was about taxidermy 🙂 This sounds like an interesting premise. I don’t usually read books of this sort, I admit (particularly when they have bloody knives on the covers!) but I definitely think this is exactly the sort of plane read a lot of people go for!
at first I thought “that title sounds familiar”…but I was thinking of the Louise Penny book.
someone needs to be more careful picking titles! 🙂
Summer reading = great beach books and this one sounds pretty good actually!
That does sound like an interesting premise. You’ve got me curious about the surprises.
This looks like a fun read. I have my first Fielding on the shelf to read this year.
I like the sound of this one. I’m still thinking about Marianne from Star Gazing and how she learns to see the world through her hearing. This would be a good follow-up read. I could go for a quick and easy read.
I love the premise!! I’ll keep it in mind for reading when I’m forced to be outside supervising a pack of rowdy children.
I don’t know…that bloody knife might not make it through airport security.
I have this (yet unread) on my shelf. Glad for your endorsement, I’ll take it to the beach this summer.
This was my first Joy Fielding book and I thought it
was a great read, I would have given it a 5/5.