Sunburn

Although I have not read any other of Laura Lippman's books, she is a prolific writer, notably of the "Tess Monaghan" series, as well as several stand-alone thrillers. She routinely gets positive reviews for everything she writes and this book is certainly worth the read. It is a modern-day take on the noir genre, with a "bad girl"--maybe-- meets "good boy" plot line. Polly has recently abandoned her second husband and their daughter while on a beach vacation, with plans to head to Reno and get a quickie divorce. She gets as far as a small town called Belleville, Delaware. At the High-Ho diner, a handsome man sits a couple of stools away from her at the bar and initiates a conversaation, but this is not a chance encounter. They both play it cool, claiming that each is just passing through. But Adam is attracted to beautiful sunburned shoulders and red hair, so when she gets a waitressing job at the bar/diner, he applies for the vacant cook's position. Over the course of that miserably hot summer, after a lot of calculated dancing around on both their parts, they realize that the passionate affair they began is turning into real love--something neither of them wanted to happen. Polly and Adam can't seem to walk away from one another, even though Polly wants to settle down and Adam want to continue exploring the world. Throughout, Polly and Adam lie to each other, and throughout they each know that. Adam is actually a PI hired to investigate Polly and she is running a long game, the extent of which the reader will not know until the last chapter. Lippman parcels out the secrets and the solutions a piece at a time, keeping the suspense level high.

Library Journal says of Lippman's characters that "Lippman's complicated femme fatale heroine and conflicted hero are more layered than one would expect from noir protagonists, and her nuanced characterizations extend beyond the couple at the center of the story. With an economy of words, she creates three--dimensional characters... Lippman's minute observations about modern life, human foibles, and the many faces of love are lagniappes to this tasty feast of a novel." Publishers Weekly effuses, "Lippman ratchets up the suspense the way the mercury in a thermometer creeps up on a hot August day, until everything-Polly's carefully laid plans of revenge and redemption, Adam's part in her potential downfall-comes to a boiling point. This is Lippman at her observant, fiercest best, a force to be reckoned with in crime fiction." I also love this review from Kirkus which begins, "A redheaded waitress, a good-looking private eye, insurance fraud, arson, rough sex, and a long hot summer: some like it noir." And their conclusion, "Plotty, page-turning pleasure plus instructions on how to make a perfect grilled cheese sandwich and how to stab a man in the heart."