Standing Still: A Novel

by Kelly Simmons

This is a story about a former journalist, Claire Cooper, now a wife and mother living in a beautiful new home in the suburbs with her husband and three young daughters. It's immediately apparent that Claire has some anxiety issues and maritial problems with her workoholic, often absent husband, Sam.

One dark and stormy night while Claire is home alone, a man breaks into their home thru a skylight, and attempts to kidnap her oldest daughter. Somehow, Claire convinces him to take her instead. It is eventually revealed that this kidnapping is not a random act, but payback for her husband's involvement in illegal and immoral activities at work. Luckily for Claire, she happens to have a kidnapper with a heart of gold, who promises that she won't be harmed as long as Sam pays the steep ransom. As the story progresses, many secrets about Claire's past and her marriage are revealed as we wait for Sam's response to the ransom demand.

Before I review this book, I have to first admit that I'm not a huge fan of mystery/suspense novels. (I just can't seem to resist skipping to the back of the book to sneak a peak at how the book will end.) I picked Standing Still because the starred review in Publisher's Weekly called it an "electrifying debut" and the inside flap mentioned that it would appeal to fans of Sue Miller, one of my favorite writers. While I found this book suspenseful and somewhat entertaining, I don't really see any similarities to Ms. Miller's work at all. I found it kind of unbelieveable that Claire's kidnapper would be such a nice, reasonable person and I felt the character of Sam was a bit underdeveloped. While this book wasn't really my cup of tea, I would recommend it to fans of the suspense genre in search of a quick, easy read.