Book Review: Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Review

Abby tells herself she is the luckiest woman in the world but that does not last long.  Her life and her luck change in an instant…

Abby’s son, Jake, is away at college and her husband, Nick, and her daughter, Lindsey, set out for a camping trip.   Abby looks forward to the quiet time she will have while the two of them are away.  That morning, she gets to braid her daughter’s hair and kiss her husband goodbye.  For one brief moment, Abby reminds herself that she is a lucky woman to have a good marriage and good life.  But then after a storm and flood happen, her perfect life crumbles when her husband and daughter vanish without a trace.

Abby is convinced that Nick and Lindsey are still alive especially since no remains were recovered. She finds herself going through various theories, including one that has to do with her husband’s involvement in high profile legal case where he was later accused of embezzlement.   She also wonders if they were kidnapped or perhaps, if her husband decided to run away with her daughter.

As she seeks closure, Abby realizes that her life was not as perfect as she perceived it to be. She discovers she did not know her husband as well as she thought she did and her marriage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.  Further, she finds herself on path she never she would take. The truth is a lot of more difficult than Abby could have ever realized.  Can she handle truth?  You will have to read Evidence of Life to find out. 

Evidence of Life is well written and offers a captivating storyline.  The characters appear realistic due to their shortcomings. In the end, everything comes into place for Abby but the ending isn’t what anyone anticipates. 

Excerpt from Evidence of Life

 “On the last ordinary day of her life before her family went off for the weekend, Abby made a real breakfast—French toast with maple syrup and bacon. It was penance, the least she could do, given how utterly delighted she was at the prospect of being left on her own for two whole days to do as she pleased. It would sicken her later, in the aftermath of what happened, that she could so covet the prospect of solitude, but in that last handful of ordinary hours, she was full of herself, her silly plans. She set a small mixing bowl on the counter, found the wire whisk, and when Nick came in the backdoor, she brandished it, smiling at him.

He frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Cooking breakfast, French Toast.”

“We don’t have time. We’re going to hit rush hour traffic as it is.”

“It’ll be fine,” Abby soothed.

He came to the sink still wearing the wisp of bloodstained tissue he’d stuck below his ear where he’d cut himself shaving and the rumpled cargo shorts he’d pulled out of the hamper as if he didn’t have a drawer full of clean ones. As is the unwashed pair were the only ones that suited him.

Abby got out a frying pan, aware of his mood, regretful of it. She wished he hadn’t bothered with shaving. She wished she’d done the laundry yesterday. Leaving the breakfast makings, she went to him, circled his waist from behind, laid her cheek against his back. “I’m sorry about your shorts.” The words were right there but they caught in her throat when she felt him go still.”

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Harlequin MIRA, Paperback, April 2013, ISBN: 978-0778315162

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I was not paid for this review.  Thank you to Meryl L. Moss Media for sending me a free copy for my review.