I’d Know You Anywhere Book Review

Eliza Benedict did not always go by Eliza. She changed her name after she was fifteen, after her abduction. Eliza is a happily, married wife and mother. She doesn’t live in the past. She moved on the…best she could. Still, she can’t help wondering why her abductor, after killing an unsolved number of young girls, let her live. But she was fine without any answers. Like I said, she doesn’t live in her past.

However her past catches up with. Walter Bowman, her abductor, who is about to die for his crimes, sends her a letter after seeing her picture in a magazine article. Now he wants to talk to her and isn’t letting up. What does he want? And is Eliza ready to dive back into the shadows of her past.

What I liked best about this book: Laura Lippman draws the reader in. She writes elegantly while introducing us to people in such amazing ways. She shows the reader just how it would feel to be kidnapped while at the same time how one can grow past those horrors. The characters, for example, her husband and children are given enough voice to not overpower the main storyline while still adding all the crazy chaos of a wife and mother’s life.

Lippman also gives the reader an opportunity to consider the varying sides of the death penalty without being showy or preachy. She writes with an expert speed with her dialog and descriptions. And most important, to me anyway, is that the ending was perfect. This book will not let you down. It will draw you in and hold you there, urging you to turn the next page until the very last.

My Score 9