Saved by the Pink Flamingo

Linda
LaRoque
Genre: 
Suspense-Thriller

Laurel Thorne has been happily married to her husband Boyd for twenty years… until he forgets their wedding anniversary. To make matters worse, Boyd is apparently tied up at dinner with a client, Meredith Baxter, but the pictures sent by an anonymous source to Laurel paint a different story. 

Devastated and heartbroken, Laurel grabs her stuff and her beloved dog, and heads out on her own in the retro family trailer, called “The Pink Flamingo”. Laurel finally decides to chase her own dreams and rather than waste more time caring for her not-so-devoted husband, she is ready to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a successful artist. Meredith decides Boyd is hers and hers alone, and that Laurel has to die so Meredith can get the man of her dreams — and she is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. 

Ranging from suspenseful to humorous, the pacing works rather well, and the writing style and fluent voice pull the reader right in. The mystery is not all that “mysterious” though, and ultimately the book is more about re-discovering oneself rather than the romantic suspense it claims to be. Laurel is an intriguing character, especially when she is back in tune with her old self, and reconnects with a part of herself she thought long gone – it feels as if she’s becoming whole again, and as a reader, it is interesting to follow this development up close. 

Majanka Verstraete