www.annemoore.net

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas

Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas

by James Patterson
Reviewed by Anne Moore
People, 2001
Download as PDF

Oh-so-smart Manhattan book editor Katie Wilkinson is kicking herself for
being oh-so-blind: Matt, her out-of-town lover for nearly a year, has just dumped her, leaving her with a diary-written by his wife, Suzanne.

Best known for such cineplex-ready mysteries as Kiss the Girls, James Patterson this time has crafted a love story as suspenseful as any thriller. The diary is about Suzanne and Matt’s love affair, written for their baby Nicholas. The happy family lives on Martha’s Vineyard, where Suzanne is a country doctor and Matt is a housepainter and budding poet. Their life together is achingly romantic, with nights spent dancing on the beach and days whirling on the island’s carousel.

So how could Matt be cheating on Suzanne? And how could he be so cruel as to give his wife’s diary to his lover? Katie can’t stop reading; you won’t be able to either. Though the story is weighty with matters of birth, life and death, it’s also clever, light and as welcoming as an ocean breeze. (Little, Brown, $22.95)

Bottom Line: Winning entry

In the blog

I’m posting this out of frustration with the bland, dated advice in yesterday’s New York Times Travel section. A couple celebrating their 25th anniversary plans to spend a few days in Chicago in early December. What to do, where to go? Agreed. It will be cold. Let’s review the reasons to visit Chicago any time

(...)

I read and loved Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong” when it was released in 2000. Beautiful, spare, moving, grounded in time and place. About a pregnant teenager taken in by two old men, brothers, both bachelors. I weep just remembering their story; how they save her and how, in turn, she saves them. The other day I

(...)

The last warm, sun-filled Sunday in September and I was heading to the underground Harris Theater to see Baryshnikov dance. When I mentioned my indoor plans for the afternoon, my neighbor snickered. I worried, too: would the great male dancer embarrass himself? Pas de tout. I’d seen Baryshnikov dance many times, in the mid-to-late 1970s,

(...)

Leave a Reply