Review Sunburn by Laura Lippman

Title: Sunburn

Author:  Laura Lipmann
Publisher: William Morrow

Publishing Date:  February 20th, 2018

Pages: 290 
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller/Noir

Series:  Standalone
Source:  Audio

 

One is playing a long game. But which one?

They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he’s also passing through.

Yet she stays and he stays—drawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other—dangerous, even lethal, secrets that begin to accumulate as autumn approaches, feeding the growing doubts they conceal.

Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each other’s lives and lies that neither one knows how to get away—or even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?

Something—or someone—has to give.

Which one will it be?

Another book I found on someone's blog. I wish I remembered who. Lately I have been grabbing as many adult book reviews as I can. I am really wanting to read more adult books and this genre has me going good. This book is more of a noir read, which I love noir. I had to really research to figure out what noir is and this one for sure fits the bill. I was sucked into this book right away and I could not tear myself away from this read. It was so intense. I will for sure be reading more from his author. 

Polly decides to leave her daughter and her husband while on vacation. She just gets up leaves a note, and takes a bus to a new town. She decides to make a life in this town, get a job, rent an apartment, shop for furniture, and without wanting too, find a new man. Little does she know this man was paid to find her and get information about her. Of course he didn't plan on falling in love either. As their lives intertwine and they grow more as a couple, so do the lies. Grow and complications arise. Every day seems to be full of surprises,lies, or a bit of danger of the truth coming out. 

I loved this book. I have recommended it to tons of people already. This is a really slow burn book. Not a lot of action but characters development, tension building, story advancement. There is a ton of this. Very little action and that is not until the very end. So if you go into this book wanting action you will be disappointed. I loved that it didn't have action but still it built up the tension and was full of twists and turns throughout the entire book. I really didn't know which was was up in this book. 

Polly should be a hard person to like. She isn't honest, she left her kid, she does things that are questionable. But I loved her, I rooted for her. I understood her and I felt for her. She does what she does for a reason, to make it to the end of her game. She has a prize in sight and she won't stop until she gets it. She has learned from a hard past not to trust and to only rely on yourself. She has a rhyme and reason to everything she does. 

I also like Adam. the man that was paid to follow and find her. I couldn't help but love him. The only thing he is guilty of is not telling Polly the truth of himself. He is a decent guy and does what he thinks he should do. His downfall is not following his gut. He falls for Polly and he is oh so sweet. 

The romance is not overwhelming. It's slow and its there before you know how it got there. It falls into the every day way and just seems easy  and breezy...even though it is full of lies. It's not forced, it so natural and yet complicated and messy and possibly shouldn't be. But I fell into the romance as I fell for the characters. 

The story is great. The plot so wonderful. I felt so invested and I just couldn't see it problematic. I just wanted to enjoy their lives. The story is dark and full of not so great decisions. It's twisty and it blindsides constantly. I love these kind of reads. I knew there was going to be so much more to the story than was told from the beginning. I was so happy to be in the story, I didn't even try to figure it out. I was satisfied with knowing what little I knew at the moment and just sat back and let the wholes be filled slowly on the terms of the story. 

I really can't say how much I loved this book. It attached to me and it just won't let go. If you like dark, if you like noir, if you like twisty, if you like slow burns... this is the book for you. 

This book owns my heart!

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association.

Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since. She is the daughter of Theo Lippman Jr., a Sun editorial writer who retired in 1995 but continues to freelance for several newspapers, and Madeline Mabry Lippman, a former Baltimore City school librarian. Her sister, Susan, is a local bookseller.