The Abortionist's Daughter

Hyde, E. (2006). The Abortionist's Daughter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Annotation: Outspoken abortionist Diana Duprey is found dead in her pool and the police must catch her killer.

Summary: Diana Duprey has had a rough day. First there was the argument with her daughter, then the one with Stephen O'Connell, the town's pro-life activist and finally the blow up with her husband Frank. Frank was incensed that Diana didn't really seem concerned about the nude, underage photos he found online of Megan through his work at the DAs office and leaves the house. When he returns he finds her dead in the pool with bruised arms and a bump on her head. It's now up to the police to find out who killed Diana and why.

Review: I wanted to like this book and for the most part I did, until around half way through when the young detective working on the case lets Megan push her way into his house and then ends up spending the night. And if that wasn't enough, they end up sleeping together. I found it wholly unbelievable that a cop with a previous internal affairs background would do this. And then there's the issue of the killer- it was "hit me over the head" obvious from the beginning so I kept thinking, "Would you share what the other characters are hiding so that we can see it's not them and you can arrest this guy already." Still, her actual writing style is one I enjoyed and this book got a lot of buzz so I'm mostly glad I read it.

Possible recommendations: Jodi Picoult, Chris Bohjalian, Anita Shreve

Rating: 2Q, 4P