What do You think about Life Penalty (1998)?
Gail Walton thought herself a very lucky woman with a successful husband, two perfect daughters, and a nice house in an affluent suburb. Life for Gail was safe and was predictable. Returning home one afternoon from a luch and shopping date with a friend Gail finds her entire life shattered. Her six-year-old daughter Cindy had been abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered. Consumed by grief and rage, Gail is lost to everyone else but herself. Her grip on reality is questionable at best. Not contentto let the police do their job Gail buys a gun and begins the second part of her life: finding her daughter's killer.
—Corky
After her 6 year old daughter is raped and murdered, Gail Walton vows to find the killer herself. Her story is compelling, and I stayed up late to finish the book. I felt it was more about than grieving process than about mystery/suspense, though certainly it does fall in the mystery/suspense category. Fielding did an excellent job of describing grief and I believed every moment of what went on in Gail's heart and mind. That made the book very hard for me to read, though, as I've lost 3 close family members under very difficult circumstances (not that there are any easy ones) over the past 8 years. Even if I didn't feel that personal reaction to that aspect of the book, I think I still would have been a bit disappointed at the focus of the book, as I prefer a stronger mystery plot.That being said, I recommend it if you don't feel that being that close to the grieving process will be hard for you. It's also interesting to read it in 2013 given the 1984 publication date. I had more or less forgotten that most people didn't have answering machines or voicemail in the 80s, as well as the fear of a car breakdown or worse at night with no cell phone handy to contact anyone. In some ways, the book is encouraging, in that sentences have gotten so much stronger for crimes like the one in the book. Now, at least in Illinois, a murder usually is a 100% crime -- that is, the convicted murderer must serve 100% of the sentence. Sentenced to 40 years, he serves 40 years. The book reflects the 80s, when a convicted murderer sentenced 20 years might serve less than half of that time. Which is what makes it understandable that the main character seeks to take justice into her own hands.
—Lisa Lilly
