Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline ~ Book Review

Christine and Marcus have a great marriage that is only lacking one thing...children.  After a long time trying, Christine convinces Marcus that they both should be tested.  The results are devastating to Marcus as they find out that it is because of him that they can't get pregnant.  Christine convinces Marcus that they should get pregnant by a sperm donor.  After applying and seeing the specialist, they choose donor 3319 from the company Homestead.  Soon Christine is happily pregnant and all too soon she is on her last day of work as a teacher.  During her good bye party she glances at the tv screen and sees a young blonde male being arrested for the murder of several nurses.  In a split second Christine's perfect pregnancy comes crashing down as she realizes it looks just like their donor.  Marcus is furious at Homestead for not vetting their donors more thoroughly and is bent on suing them.  But Christine is against that and sets herself on a course to find out if it donor 3319 and this prisoner are one and the same.  Without Marcus knowing she heads down to the prison to get some answers and puts herself right into the middle of his defense as she believes he is innoncent.

I like reading Lisa Scottoline books in the summer as they are the perfect "beach" read.  Easy reading with an interesting premise, they are fast, page turning reads.  I have to admit that this one, though, wasn't one of my favorites.  The premise was indeed interesting and made  one of my favorite types of stories, that of a moral dilemma.  But I found myself very frustrated with main character.  Her stubborn  need to know  was not surprising but the lengths to which she went and the fact that it had to be in her timing and in her way became kind of unbelievable to me the reader.  That she so easily was able to insert herself into the man's defense team gave me pause and that she would involve herself so thoroughly against the husband's wishes when they were suing the company just kind of didn't ring true for me.  Her character made me good and mad a few times in the story as she was so bent on doing things her way that she became totally self-unaware of the consequences her actions could/would have.   As she is bent upon proving the innocence of the "father" of her baby her marriage starts to crack as the flaws start to override the strength.  The wrapping up of that part of the story seemed one sided to me.  I did love the development of the character of Griff, the crusty old retired lawyer who was hired in the defense of the man arrested.  His progression in the story was enjoyable.  I did like that it was the author's usual fast pace and each chapter built the story and made it more tense as it went along.  I also like that I didn't figure out the ending, in fact I was quite wrong in my guess at how it would conclude and I think this book would make a great book club pick because of the discussions that could be had from the plot.  I liked this story but didn't love it.

I gave it a 7/10.