Project Life 2012: Book Ten

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book started with an extremely thought provoking dilemma: a parent volunteer in the lunchroom finds herself thrown into the middle of a tragic explosion. Does she save the little girl who has been tormenting and bullying her daughter first? Or does she go after her daughter?

Rose McKenna believes she makes the perfect compromise: she guides the three young girls to the hallway and tells them to run outside. She then heads to the handicap bathroom to find her daughter, Melly, who has run off after being tormented by the class bully, Amanda Gigot. The first ten pages of this book broke my heart, brought tears to my eyes, and exposed my deepest fears about sending a child to school. Bullying is an absolutely needless and tragic epidemic, Lisa Scottoline describes the torment and hurt poignantly. However, the plot begins to fall apart and the poignancy is replaced with a kitchy murder mystery starring possibly corrupt politicians and cliche muscled body guards for hire.

One of the most disappointing books I’ve read in a long time.