Book Review: Sunburn

Synopsis:

Sunburn is a novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck. They’re two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayals — and cold-blooded murder.

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 the 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.

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?

Sunburn was inspired by James M. Cain’s masterpieces The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, and is a masterpiece of modern noir penned by the incomparable Laura Lippman.

Review:

Laura Lippman is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of twelve volumes featuring private investigator Tess Monaghan, as well as nine previous stand-alone novels.

With Sunburn Lippman has penned another volume destined to become a classic. It is an intriguing look at a mysterious woman who inadvertently connects with the man who has been hired to find her. Her past is shrouded in secrecy and, perhaps, misinformation and assumptions based upon media reports. She has reasons for keeping her past a secret that Lippman reveals at expertly-timed junctures.

Adam knows he should not get emotionally entangled with his prey. He is savvy and experienced, and knows that it will only end badly . . . but he just can’t help himself. And so they fling themselves into a steamy affair, each hiding their secrets and watching for any sign that the other is on to their deception. They both know full well they are playing a dangerous, reckless game. But taking risks is part of what attracts them to each other.

As Lippman deftly accelerates the action toward a shocking conclusion, she asks her readers to reevaluate and reconsider all the clues to the full truth that she has dropped along the way.

With Sunburn, Lippman demonstrates once again why she is one of America’s premiere writers of psychological suspense. It is an engrossing, smoldering, must-read character study.