Look Closely

April 25, 2005
Chick-lit author Caldwell (The Year of Living Famously
) switches gears to draw from her former career as a trial lawyer for her first suspense novel. Manhattan attorney Hailey Sutter is headed to Chicago to represent the McKnight Corporation, whose Internet company has been accused of Web technology theft, when she receives a note saying, "There is no statute of limitations on murder. Look closely." The ominous statement catapults Hailey back to Woodland Dunes (a small seaside town on Lake Michigan), where her mother died from a head injury when Hailey was seven. Shortly afterward, her older brother and sister disappeared, and she was left in the care of her father, who refuses to discuss the incident. Between the McKnight arbitrations, Hailey flies from Manhattan to Chicago to Portland in search of her estranged siblings and answers that she hopes will shed some light on her mother's mysterious death. The smooth first-person narrative builds suspense and paints a fine picture of time and place. Unfortunately, the book loses steam in the final chapter, and the ending falls as flat as a day-old soufflé. Agent, Maureen Walters at Curtis Brown Ltd.