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Heloise is in a Starbucks as she eavesdrops on a couple discussing the apparent suicide of a modern-day suburban madam. This is news that has particular relevance to Heloise, and the story that follows deals with prostitution and politics, blackmail, and murder as Lippman explores whether it is possible to rise above the limitations that life imposes upon us. Heloise began life as Helen Lewis, and her early life with a bully of a father and a victim of a mother gave her little else to capitalize upon other than her looks. Her beauty gets her into trouble at the same time that it turns into a commodity she can sell. The book is arranged in chapters that alternate between Heloise in the present and Helen in the past. As the two worlds converge, we see Heloise develop as a complex woman who struggles with the conflict between self-preservation and a desire to do the right thing. In the meantime, she builds strong business skills and protects her son conceived with her past pimp. In the present, she lives a double life, the two sides of which she attempts to keep completely separate: on the one hand running a successful prostitution business in the D.C. area, and on the other playing out the role of a suburban mother. As the chapters dealing with the past work their way toward those dealing with the present, there is little that suggests a mystery beyond a vague sense of unease. The action explodes in the last twenty-five pages of the book, however. Heloise's past truly catches up with her present, even as she is attempting to remake herself as a legitimate businesswoman, and Lippman answers the question of whether one can truly shake off the past in the desire to become the good person she wants to be. I do not particularly like narrative technique that Lippman uses in this book, as well as in all the others by her that I've read. We find out much of the detail of the mystery in a dialogue between characters as the action draws to a close. Too many facts that would have helped us understand the situation are withheld during best part of the book, and then they are released all at once as one character talks to another. This criticism is a minor one in this case, however, since the mystery plays a minor role in the overarching story. The book is much more about whether it is possible to escape one's past than it is about whether Heloise can escape the man who wants to murder her. Heloise is an extremely well-drawn character. Even with all her faults and illegal acts, she is complex and I found her sympathetic. She thinks deeply about all aspects of her life. The ways in which she played with the cards that were dealt her made me wonder how I would have done. This was an excellent book, and I highly recommend it. § Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, August 2012
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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