Slippery

As I have mentioned in the past, I am not a book worm.  It has be be good to hold my unfocused attention. 

A couple of months ago Oprah announced that her new book club selection would be A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.  I dutifully purchased the books and then settled in one night to begin the first.  I didn't think I was stupid before I started reading them.  I suppose I could have finished them and maybe someday I will, but not this day, that's for sure.  The language was dated, obviously, and I just couldn't get lost in the story, at least in the first forty or so pages.  I'll save them for my nursing home days I guess.

My sister, Yvette, bought me Slippery for my birthday.  I thought it was sort of random at the time.  Ok...a book.  I hadn't heard of it, not that I really hear of many.  I guess I don't run in the booky circle.  Anyway, after finishing Black Heels to Tractor Wheels I was revved about reading again and was looking for my next book.  I pulled Slippery out of the drawer and started reading.  I was hooked right from the start. 

The story is set in a rural North Central Washington town.  Hmm...I used to live in a rural North Central Washington town, that's funny.  Here's what Amazon.com says about the book:

A young mother, an unfortunate slip--a tragic accident that will changer her family's lives forever--Danica Burdick has beaten the odds of teenage motherhood and one failed marriage to build a new life with her soulmate, Jimmy. Add three gorgeous kids and she truly has it all. Then she slips. What will become of her two older children if her wily ex-husband succeeds in seeing her dead? Will the authorities nail the man who runs over her and flees? And the toughest question of all--How will her parents, her best friends, and her beloved husband ever live without her? Much like the heroine of Slippery, you will find yourself holding one for dear life, as you navigate the profound twists and turns of a suspense novel written by a master storyteller.

At some point, I looked in the front pages of the book to find that it was published in Okanogan, my hometown.  Oh!  That's why Yvette gave it to me, it was published locally.  At some other point, I saw a picture of the author, Kimberly Ann Freel, in the back of the book.  Hey!  I know that lady.  That's Kim Morris and I used to go to school with her.  Wow!  Real people write books.  Hmm, who would have thought.

I can barely read a book, much less write one.  I have great respect for that kind of imagination, focus and follow through.  And to top it all off, the book was great, gripping and...I don't want to spoil it for you.  Go get it, you'll like it.  She has others out too:  Monster White Lies, Painted Rocks, and Callie of the White Sand.

At the suggestion of its author, I will be reading Painted Rocks next.

And Kim, if you hurry, maybe Slippery can be the next Oprah book club selection.  I hear its a pretty good deal.  She still has 17 shows left.  I'd vote for you over that Dickens guy any day.