Ugh. This book was a huge disappointment for me. I WANTED to like it, and I really wanted to care about the story line. It didn't happen at all. After the first couple of chapters I was trying to push through, hoping it would get better. It didn't. I hope that there are others that enjoy this book. I typically like her stories, but the dialogue in this one was AWFUL. The writing seemed very unpolished and awkward. I made it to page 160 and I finally decided to give it up. Life is too short for b...

Wanting to get closer to his son Ryan, Jake Buckman unwisely lets the underage teen take the wheel of his Audi. Taking his eyes off the road for an instant Ryan hits and kills a female jogger. Wanting to protect Ryan - a good student and star basketball player with a promising future - Jake decides to leave the scene of the crime. This unfortunate decision has dire consequences. For one thing Ryan can't live with the lies and starts to fall apart. For another, it seems that someone might have wi...

I flew through this book, it was so hard to put down. I had read a few reviews before hand where people had described it being hard to read. I didn't get it until I was into the book. While I loved it, it was hard to read. Besides the whole fact of the main plot, I found I didn't like very many of the characters and it was a little difficult to relate. It was hard not to be judgy because after all, as horrible as it was, who knows what we would do in that situation to protect our children. Every...

I want to give some thought as to the review to this book. So far I can say that I am very disappointed in how far away this book varies from Scottoline's normal writing quality. This book was also EXTREMELY repetitive. I would say the first half of the book was based on the 2 lines...Jake (the dad)- "Ryan, I know you are worried. I will take care of it." Ryan (the son)- "Dad I'm so worried. We need to go to the police." The entire first half of the book was based on those 2 lines or variations

After I began reading this book and discovered it involved a hit and run death, I thought—not again. I’d just read a book with a similar plot line a week or so ago and was frustrated at the thought of another character not facing up to their moral responsibility—it was just too much. Scottoline’s characters, Jake and Ryan Buckman, a father and son, find themselves having to tell lie upon lie to keep their secret hidden from wife and mother Pam, school friends and business associates, etc. Anywa

Here we have another fairly chunky book, full of promise, but let down by clunky writing, poor punctuation, horrid characters and as much padding as a Tog15 goose down duvet.The premise is good – Jake, wanting to rekindle a failing relationship with teenage son Ryan, allows him, against his better judgement, to drive his racy Audi. The fact that Ryan is not permitted to drive after eleven o' clock at night and it's a foggy, drizzly night, does not stop Jake agreeing. The worst happens – Ryan run...

This had lots of good twists and turns but reading it was a little eerie as the plot line (leaving the scene of a hit-and-run and hiding it from the family) and theme (how far do you go to protect your children) were very similar to Carla Buckley's THE DEEPEST SECRET, and if they weren't published at about the same time of the year I would say one author would have a case for plagiarism. And even though it was the third book I've read this year about protecting your family by hiding a heinous ev...

Three and a half stars,Jake's relationship with his 16 year old son Ryan , is far from ideal. His wife Pam who is a judge urges Jake to go and pick his son up from the movies. On the way home Jake makes a decision that proves fatal. That one decision results in more decisions that only increase tension and problems within the Buckman family. Guilt and lies become the norm of Jake and Ryan’s days and nights. Can they maintain their silent stance? If the truth comes out what will that mean for the...

Accountant Jake Buckman had let his relationship with his sixteen year old son, Ryan go. He had let his wife, Pam, take over while he built up his accounting business. Pam was a state judge but she was the one to take the boy to his games, appointments and bond with him. They had been through marriage counseling and a product of that was that Jack was supposed to strengthen his ties with Ryan. Jake decided to be the one to pick up his son at the movies. Ryan, 6’5” and a varsity basketball player...

Terrible. Was looking for a quick beach read, something easy and simple. This was too easy and simple. The characters were not well developed, the dialogue not believable, and I could not stand the wife (who I think was supposed to be a *good* character). Because I disliked this character so much, it made me dislike all of the interactions w her family and the way they viewed/worshipped her. 2 stars instead of 1 because it made me think, once or twice, 'what would I do in a similar situation?'.

I'm such a fan of Scottoline but I almost didn't finish this book. It was repetitive and I figured out the ending about a third of the way through. On top of that, it was very depressing. A father, who had never been close to his teenage son, makes a decision that will change the lives of his whole family and several others, and then covers it up. The story is about the changes that take place in these people. An OK read but Scottoline has written much better.

I nominate this book for the prize of Most Terrible Book I've Read This Decade. Flat, predictable characters and terrible writing.(Is "ahold" even a word you can use in written literature?) But it does have suspense. And once the mystery got ahold of me, I just kept going back...much like getting a bad case of the flu and steeling myself to persevere until the end. I made it. Now I just need to get ahold of a light & fluffy but well-written novel and I can quickly put this one out of my head.

Have you ever done some little thing that woulda-coulda-shoulda turned into some great big HUGE deal? Like slipping something bright and shiny👑🔔🏆 into your pocket in the Dollar Store💵 and just happening to forget about it (OPPS!😨) until you were already outside in the parking lot. And you’re looking back to see if the store detective🚔🚓 is rushing out to apprehend you. Holey smokems! Better get outta heah . . . FAST! 🚀 Then whaddaya gonna do? Huh? ‘Cause things are about to get a whole lot worse

This is a very average story about a perfect family, that makes a terrible mistake and has to live with the consequences. Jake Buckman lets his son drive his car and this leads to an accident and a dead girl. Thrown into this mix is the rather dubious moral decision to just leave the scene, taken by Jake and then to lie and cover up. There is also a bit of blackmail and Jake discovering his perfect family isn’t so perfect.At the heart of the novel is the moral dilemma. What would you do if you w...

Wow. I am very tempted to only give this 2 stars so maybe it should be 2.5 stars. I listened to this on Audible and it was read by Ron Livingston (Office Space) so he is the image I had of the dad (which was actually kind of fitting). I know the purpose of this book was to purely entertain - but I swear the more historical fiction I read, the less I like pure fiction. I want to take away something after reading a book - and this book was so unbelievable and so un-real that what I took away from

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and I am so excited, happy, and thankful that I did. This novel was not only a quick read which held my attention, but also explored the deeper ties of family relationships. However, being that this book am advanced readers edition and NOT the final piece of work, there are a few things that could be taken into consideration for improvement. One thing that made me pause was the dialogue of the son early in the novel. At points it almost felt forced, like

Well...I found this book to be just okay. It was one of those reads that I felt compelled to finish because I wanted to know how it ends. I was initially drawn to it because of the description but it was one of those books that sounded better than it actually was. On the one hand, it had moments when I was glued to the pages but there were also times when the plot droned on or felt contrived. The book revolves around the following dilemma: As a parent, to what lengths would you go to protect you...

A quick read for me, this was an intriguing enough story but for some reason was not really hitting the mark for me on several levels.The premise is an interesting one – how far would you go to protect your children? Jake takes a fast decision to try and cover up a terrible accident in order to protect his son’s future – but keeping this secret is far from easy as Ryan falls apart and the tangled web gets ever more invasive.What I did like about this one was the moral choices, how the characters...

3.5 starsThis is my first time reading a book from Lisa Scottoline and I am impressed! This book follows a man named Jake and his son Ryan and they are out one night, and Jake lets Ryan drive even though he's underage and unlicensed, and while driving Ryan hits and kills a woman who's on a run. In a moment of panic and thinking about how this would affect Ryan's future, they flee the scene of the accident. We get to watch as this hit and run incident starts to consume their lives and lying to ev...

I love Lisa Scottoline's books and this was written with her typical brilliance of plot twists and turns. I gave this only 1 star because I almost put this down several times. I was very upset and angry that Jake left the scene of the hit and run and put his son's future ahead of what is right and at every turn was teaching Ryan not to taking responsibility for his actions which is exactly what Ryan wanted to do. Every day I see parents teaching this same lesson and unfortunately most kids learn...