Patricia is a middle-aged, single mother whose newlywed only daughter, Ashley, died after being denied a medically necessary abortion. Ashley\u2019s husband, David, is suing Ashley\u2019s doctor, the hospital, and the hospital\u2019s lawyer, Brenda Phillips, who plans to run for office on a conservative, pro-life platform. Patricia plans a more drastic action: murder. But when she uses a stolen identity to become the Phillips family\u2019s housekeeper, Brenda\u2019s uncaring behavior toward her young children sparks Patricia\u2019s motherly instincts, giving rise to conflicted feelings about her intentions. A second plotline involves Brenda\u2019s high-school sweetheart, John Petersen, now a male-chauvinist religious fanatic who believes murder is justifiable to save the unborn. A third thread is devoted to Lisette \u201cLizzie\u201d Vaughn, a private investigator (Lizzie and her assistant, Murphy Green, a Black, trans ex-cop, have their own complicated backstories), and a fourth follows Isabella Ramirez, a single mother with a heart condition who believes her unplanned second pregnancy could kill her (and whose wimpy ex-husband, Wyatt, has joined John\u2019s group of radical anti-abortionists). The various strands converge when Isabella and her young daughter, Nina, go missing, and her friend Ethan calls Lizzie rather than go to the police (\u201cA young woman should be sympathetic to the plight of a woman whose pregnancy could kill her\u201d). The novel brings together a memorable cast of characters to highlight the potentially deadly consequences of \u201cpro-life\u201d activism as the narrative alternates between the points of view of Patricia, Lizzie, John, Isabella, Brenda, and others. Each character sees only part of the picture, resulting in multiple vectors of suspense that keep the reader hooked. Additionally, seeing each character\u2019s actions through their own individual lenses provides a more nuanced consideration of the social and moral issues that drive their decisions and actions. Manning presents complicated heroes with dark sides and villains who, while they are less multi-dimensional, also have redeeming qualities. The portrayals of Lizzie and Murphy suggest they might be poised for further adventures.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patricia is a middle-aged, single mother whose newlywed only daughter, Ashley, died after being denied a medically necessary abortion. Ashley\u2019s husband, David, is suing Ashley\u2019s doctor, the hospital, and the hospital\u2019s lawyer, Brenda Phillips, who plans to run for office on a conservative, pro-life platform. Patricia plans a more drastic action: murder. But when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}