February 13, 2010
Standing Still is a gripping novel by Kelly Simmons. Claire Cooper is fearful of break-ins, break-downs, and the evil that she suspects is lurking behind every unexplained noise in the night. Why does she feel this way? We are given only the slightest of hints when suddenly her worst fear is realized: a man breaks into her house on a dark and stormy night and takes the youngest of her three children in his arms to carry her away. "Take me instead," Claire implores, setting off a chain of deceptions, discoveries, and reversals that will change her life -- and the lives of her family -- forever.
The kidnapper becomes a person with a story, and through him we find out more about Claire's hidden past and why she is so fearful of who might come to get her in the middle of the night. Claire is a bitter woman --"Nothing is as you picture it. That is the only truth I want my daughters to find .... The warm cookies, the picket fence, the wagging tail on the porch. They are never as beautiful as when they are viewed from the road" -- but the story behind her bitterness runs deeper and darker than we can even imagine. Will her husband rescue her? Claire is not sure: "Men will always do the minimum." Will her kidnapper kill her? Again, Claire is unsure but willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive, and see her children again.
Claire is not the only one with hidden secrets in Standing Still. Her kidnapping exposes more than one true story, and leaves more than one heart open for the taking. Written in engaging and suspenseful narrative, Standing Still is a good thriller to read on a stormy night when hubbie is away -- only if you have a heart of steel. Otherwise, draw your loved ones close, lock the doors and the windows, and read on.
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