The Book Frog

Ellen Gleeson is a newspaper reporter in Philadelphia and the single mother of an adopted son. On page one of Look Again Ellen glances at a have-you-seen-this-child flyer and both her reporter's and her maternal instincts are set to jangling: the child on the flyer looks exactly like her son. She obsesses over the coincidence, begins investigating the missing boy, and can't stop even when her job is placed in jeopardy. Lisa Scottoline is a former litigator in Phildadelphia, and the author of fifteen previous novels. She writes a good story; the action moves at a brisk clip, the heroine is likably dogged in her quest and reasonably intelligent, there's a drop-dead gorgeous love interest, and every thing's tied up nicely at the end (after a satisfying number of twists and turns, natch). Scottoline's writing is a bit breathless (knocks come suddenly, eyes flash, and the chapters are short and choppy, frequently ending on mini cliffhangers); still, the thrill is there and it moves so fast the stylistic foibles are easy to forgive.