The Shadow Box

Hard to believe that Luanne Rice has written 35 books and I don't think I have ever read any of them. I liked this book, though, and would gladly pick up another one by her. Chapters are narrated by the two main characters:  Claire Beaudry Chase, nature lover, artist and wife of Griffin Chase, a powerful state's attorney who is running for governor of Connecticut; and Conor Reid, Connecticut State Police detective and brother-in-law of Claire's best friend, Jackie. Other chapters are narrated by Tom Reid, Conor's older brother and local Coast Guard commander, and Sally Benson, an interior decorator for the money crowd. The timeline goes back and forth between days leading up to the attack and the days following. On the day that Claire is having an exhibition of her shadow boxes at the Woodward-Lathrop Gallery in the town of Black Hall, she is attacked in her garage and left for dead. Unbeknownst to her attacker, the 100-year-old beam on which Claire had been strung up broke, and Claire did not die. She revives enough to leave the house, cover her trail, and head for a decrepit old cabin in the adjacent woods, for she is sure that her attacker was her husband. Claire had also become convinced that Griffin's college girlfriend--who supposedly slipped on the shoreline rocks and hit her head and drowned--was killed by him. Claire discovered Ellen's body in a tide pool on a late night date with Griffin, which she's sure was not a coincidence. Claire and Griffin have both previously been married and Griffin has two grown sons, Alexander and Ford. Although there had been a long-time attraction between Claire and Griffin, they were from different social sets: Griffin comes from old money and belongs to a tight-knit community living in mansions on the bluff outside town. Claire comes from much less affluent circumstances and learned from her father how to appreciate and survive in nature. She puts her father's past teaching to good use in staying out of sight until she can figure out who to trust, for Griffin has every law enforcement official in the area in his pocket. This is about the psychological and emotional as well as physical abuse of women and potential readers should be aware; although, Claire is a strong, resourceful person and conveys the message in the end that abused women can triumph. Kirkus notes, "Rice’s compelling heroine and crisp prose lift her brisk thriller above the formulaic." Publisher's Weekly suggests the book might make you pull an all-nighter.