Sleeping Beauty
The reader is lured into this novel by skillful weaving of the initial plot. You are at first frightened by the unknown killer who is interrupted in his spree by his prey escaping after her father sets her free of the killer’s bonds. We’re tricked into thinking the killer is the suave novelist-teacher, Joshua Maxwell but all too soon we find out differently.
There is a sub-plot of mystery surrounding the parentage and birth of Ashley Spencer. All her life she’s thought she was the only daughter of Norman and Terri Spencer, but after first her father and then her mother are killed, and Ashley escapes to Europe, we find that her natural mother is the woman she thought of as the dean of her school. Casey Van Meter lies in a coma after Joshua Maxfield knocked her into a beam in the boathouse where Ashley’s adoptive mother, Terri is killed. Police are under the impression that Joshua is behind the murders at Ashley’s home and that of her adoptive mother later in the boat house on the campus of the school Ashley is attending.
The approach of this novel is very different from any other murder mystery I’ve ever read. It’s a narrative by the author of the book “Sleeping Beauty”, Miles Van Meter. It perhaps wasn’t the most well-thought out way to present the story, but the places it departs from straight narrative aren’t too apparent.
Phillip Margolin takes us through the many plot twists and sub plots of this book skillfully. His characters are fleshed out well and are believable. The events that occur in the book are realistic. This book was a very good read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this type of fiction.
Sleeping Beauty was published in 2004 by Harper Collins Publishing and was a New York Times best seller.
