I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman is a creepy story. Not creepy where you're afraid of the things that go bump in the night, but the type of creepy that makes you look over your shoulder when you're walking alone, and the creepy that makes you look twice at everyone you pass, because you really have no idea what they're hiding.
Elizabeth was kidnapped when she was 15 years old and held captive for 39 days by Walter. All of his other victims were killed within hours of being taken, and no one knows why he lets her live, not even Elizabeth. 22 years later, Elizabeth — now Eliza — is happily married with two young children. While the events of that summer have changed her, she refuses to let them define her.
Then, she opens a letter one day from Walter, writing via a third party from death row and her world shifts again. The letter brings back all the painful memories Eliza has pushed away and threatens to disrupt the foundations of her life. Eliza decides to write a letter in return, and as a result, a shaky channel of communication opens up between the two, and each participant has their own motivation for doing so.
The idea behind this novel is brilliant. Having a death row inmate, right around the corner from his execution date seek out his only surviving victim is wonderfully scary. Even though the idea behind this novel is fabulous, the really shining point of this story are the characters. Each character is so well crafted, and so well voiced that I really feel like they could be real people. When Eliza would speak, especially in the beginning of the novel, I got the sense that although the words were clear, they were somehow stifled — On the surface, everything is fine but underneath, there are currents we can't even begin to guess at.
Barbara, Walter's anti-death penalty advocate was a character who elicited strong reactions from me. Every time her name appeared on the page, my skin would crawl. I did not like her, at all. I though she was sneaky, underhanded, pretentious, self-serving and a little bit malicious. Case in point — Barbara locates Eliza's address for Walter, mails that first letter. Next, she calls Eliza's home to speak to her and then she actually shows up at her house, without any kind of warning. She has to understand, even the tiniest bit, how hard it is for Eliza to have been contacted by Walter. But, she doesn't care. She has something that she wants, and she will approach Eliza until she gets it. Perhaps I'm being overly harsh toward her, and I do understand some of what she's doing. But, if I were Eliza, I would have called the prison and lodged a formal complaint about Walter contacting me, and then told Barbara if she came near me again I'd contact the police and take out a restraining order. But, that would make for a pretty dull book...
The other characters were also wonderfully written with their good traits, bad traits and those quirks that make them real. Any of these characters could be people that you know, which are the best kind of characters, especially when reading a thriller. There were also a few unanswered questions, and pieces left hanging. Nothing major was left unanswered, but just like in real life, not all the pieces always fit into the box, waiting to be neatly tied and wrapped with a bow.
Lippman's writing is wonderful. Spot on. I will definitely be picking up more books by Lippman in the near future. This book reminded me why I loved reading murder mysteries and thrillers all through high school, and makes me want to go back and read more.
*Disclaimer: I received this book through Crazy Book Tours.