Keep Quiet

March 24, 2014
The latest standalone novel from New York Times best-selling author Scottoline explores the relationship between father and son in the aftermath of a deadly hit and run. Jake Buckman worries that he can't compete with girls, Facebook and Jay-Z for the affection of his 16-year-old son, Ryan. "No father could," he tells himself, "least of all an accountant."  In a bid to win over his son, Jake allows Ryan to drive his Audi one dark night. Ryan hits a jogger with the car and his father, foreseeing the potential of his son ruined by a vehicular manslaughter charge, decides they should run. Their secret seems safe, if excruciating to bear, until an unlikely bad guy, a "dweeby IT guy who codes all day" demands $250,000 in exchange for photo evidence that proves Ryan killed the jogger. Before Jake can pay, the IT guy turns up dead. The pace of the novel accelerates from here through under-age and extra-marital sex, set-ups and cover-ups, and more murdersâboth attempted and completed. Twists and turns of the high drama plot come at the expense of character development but excitement builds nonetheless. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary Agency.

March 15, 2014
In Scottoline's latest family-centered thriller (Accused, 2013, etc.), Jake Buckman lets son Ryan drive the family car on a back road. Very bad idea. The car hits someone, and she's dead. Faced with the prospect of his teenager's life being ruined, Jake tells him to get back in the car, and they drive away. "[D]on't tell Mom," Jake warns; he loves his wife, but Pam has the personality you'd expect of a superior court judge (judgmental), and their marriage is still recovering from Jake's decision to start his own business, which has made him a mostly absentee husband and father. He's now "one of the top-ten ranked financial planners in southeastern Pennsylvania," though his planning skills aren't evident as Jake ineptly tries to cover their tracks. He also has a terrible time keeping his son from confessing once they learn that the dead girl is Ryan's high school classmate Kathleen Lindstrom. It takes more than 100 pages for the plot to involve anything other than Jake's nerves, Pam's suspicions and Ryan's guilty wails, all of which are believable but not very interesting. Sleazy blackmailer Lewis Deaner livens things up, especially after he turns up murdered. If the police find those cellphone pictures Deaner had of Jake and Ryan at the scene of the crime, Jake will be a suspect. And once Ryan has blurted out the truth to his mother, furious Pam might be just as happy to see Jake in jail. The killer's identity isn't much of a surprise, since he's the only character with any individual traits apart from the Buckmans and the cops, but the final twist comes out of nowhere, 10 pages from the end. Very slow off the mark, though once blackmail and murder enter the picture, Scottoline moves things along with her customary professionalism, if scant credibility.

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February 15, 2014
Busy father Jake Whitmore is finally enjoying some quality time with his 16-year-old son, Ryan, when the boy convinces him to let him drive, even though he only has his learner's permit. Tragically, Ryan hits a jogger. What happens next causes their lives to spiral out of control. Jake's immediate instinct is to take the blame, but then when he realizes Ryan had been smoking marijuana earlier in the day, he makes the split-second decision to simply leave the scene. The two are wracked with guilt. Jake's wife, Pam, is suspicious and worried. And unfortunately, there was a witness, who decides to blackmail Jakeand that's when things start to get really complicated. Scottoline keeps the tension high while portraying a family in turmoil. A heck of a twist ending wraps everything up neatlymaybe too neatlyand caps a satisfying, suspenseful read. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This blend of domestic drama and criminal suspense from best-selling Scottoline is sure to hit the holds lists and may even find her a new audience among fans of issue-driven women's fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)