Come Home

Come Home is the new emotional thriller from Lisa Scottoline and my first book club pick.

Jill Farrow is a doctor and mother. Engaged to be married, Jill is home one night with her fiancée when her ex-step-daughter shows up drunk. Abby tells her William, her ex-husband is dead and Abby doesn’t believe it was suicide – although the police have ruled it as such. Abby insists Jill can help prove William was murdered and begs for her help.

Jill is faced with some hard choices and she has to examine what it means to be an ex-step-mother, is there such a thing? What lengths do you go to for those you love – and at what personal cost?

I really enjoyed the emotional aspects of the book and the question of do you ever stop being a mother? I thought the book was fast paced for the first half and I was flying through it. I liked Jill and Sam immensely but I didn’t connect with Abby or Victoria at all.

At first I could agree with Jill’s decision to help Abby, she wasn’t doing it because of left-over feelings for her ex, William, she was doing it because she still loved Abby. So I could understand her initial “investigation” even if I didn’t agree with it, to ease Abby’s mind and help her start the grieving process.

Then it started to stretch my powers of belief. Jill is a suburban doctor, with a loving fiancée and a daughter at home, so when Jill starts to throw herself into crazy, getting herself hurt Alias type situations I thought enough is enough.  It was no longer a question of helping her ex-step-daughter; it became more of a personal quest for Jill to find out what really happened to her ex, all the while jeopardizing herself, her daughter and her relationship with Sam.

I love that Scottoline asks vital, sustainable questions in her books and this is relatable not only to mothers but to anyone who has ever cared for another person. Do you ever stop loving someone and to what lengths would you go to help those you love?

It’s well researched and accurate; I think the author does a great job of making sure she has the correct police procedures which help the legal side of the story to be believable and even makes Jill’s involvement in the mystery plausible.

What I love about Lisa Scottoline books are the characters, she has a penchant for really strong, well-rounded characters. Take Sam for example. I liked Sam immediately and while others may have thought him harsh and too abrupt in his reaction to Abby and Jill’s involvement, I thought it raised some really good questions and it also gives you another point of view to examine.

Come Home raises good questions that would be perfect for a book club discussion and it’s a fast paced read, but for me, I just didn’t connect with it as much as I wanted to.

If you are interested in using for your book club, check here for discussion questions.