What the Dead Know

From the dust jacket:

Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls? Who—or what—could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness?

Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been? Why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead end—a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household.

In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?

This was a really good book! Amazon recommended it to me because I liked In the Woods by Tana French. I highly recommend this if you like mysteries. Also, it is set in Baltimore and there are lots of references to Northern Virginia so you folks back home would probably enjoy it, too.

I liked how the author revealed critical facts late in the plot rather than laying everything out on the table in the very first chapter. And I also liked the fact that even though I thought I had the whole plot figured out, I was wrong! Not to sound cocky, but I can usually figure out these mystery novels (the only bad thing about In the Woods was the fact that I figured out the present-day murder) but this time I didn't get it right.

I am creepily fascinated by the idea of grief. By what keeps a person going after a horrible tragedy. After a horrible, Nancy Grace level tragedy. What happens to a marriage? To a person who loses everything in an instant? So that part of the story, the part dealing with the parents of "the Bethany sisters" in the days, months, years following their daughters' disappearance, that part appealed to me. As a parent, some of it was painful to read, but it was still fascinating.

So I liked it. I am terrible at reviewing books, so I wish Elizabeth would read it and review it for me! Hint, hint.

gratitude

I put the kids to bed last night. Wait, that's not true. Let me begin again.

Jonathan put the kids to bed last night. He usually does. And then I usually go in a little later to say goodnight to them and give them hugs and kisses and then I usually check on them a few more times before I go to bed.

I went into the kids' rooms last night to say goodnight to them and give them hugs and kisses.

I said goodnight to Blue first. She burrowed under her covers and when I told her how snug she looked she decided she needed even more covers to look even more snug. So we covered her with her red baby blanket that my friend, Susan, from Borders, made for her before she was even born. And then we covered her with her Winnie-the-Pooh fleece blanket that her cousin, Emily, made for her. Blue giggled happily when I told her how snug she looked under all of those blankets. Then I checked on Lion.

Lion was a bit overly-tired. When he gets a bit overly-tired he gets a bit overly-clingy. He did a whiny little baby voice, stuck out his bottom lip and told me he didn't want to be all alone in his room. He wanted me to stay with him. I told him I was tired and that I would be right down the hall in my room, reading, if he needed anything. And that our doors would be open so I would be able to hear him. That seemed to comfort him. He finally released me from his clutches and I left.

I peeked in Blue's room again as I was leaving Lion's. (I can't help myself. I am addicted to their faces.) She was rubbing her eyes with her fists. So I asked her if she wanted her nightlight turned off. This is a fairly new thing with Blue. Sometimes we turn off her Disney Princess nightlight because it is too bright and we leave the hall light on for her instead. She tries so hard to be a big girl.

She told me to turn it off so I did. I turned the hall light on and then she told me, "You can turn that off, too." I smiled at her and told her I would leave it on, but that I would come turn it off after she fell asleep. She tries so hard to be a big girl, but I know her limits.

I went to my room and curled up with my book. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. It was very good and soon I was completely engrossed in the story. I have no idea how much time passed when suddenly Lion came into my room. "Mommy," he announced, climbing up on my bed, "you know why I came in here? Dun dun duuuuuun ..." (Lion is always providing his own soundtrack.) "I came in here to get you a hug. Because I love you and I want to get you a hug. So you will know for ever and ever that I love you." We hugged and I tried not to cry at the unbearable sweetness that is my son. He kissed my shoulder while I had my arms around him. Then he climbed down and went back to his room, blowing me kisses and telling me to catch them and put them in my heart. I did and I felt like my heart would burst into a million pieces, it was so full of his kisses.

I decided if I had to describe my Lion in one word it would be loving. He is so cuddly and kissy and huggy. He is always telling Jonathan and I how much he loves us, how we are his best friends... He has always been this way.


Then I thought, what one word would I use to describe my Blue? And the first word that popped into my head last night was brave. I pictured her little face, her tousled hair, as she told me to turn off the hall light. She is so brave. She always has been. Much braver than me. My Blue has always loved going down the tallest slides, swinging on swings as high as she can go, the thrill of playing hide-and-seek with Daddy--her favorite part being the moment when he jumps out of his hiding place and yells "boo!"

blackmail

resolutions

I am sitting here, watching some lame ghost hunting show with Jonathan, trying not to eat all of the chocolate-covered goldfish crackers he put in my Christmas stocking. (Does he know me, or what?!) And I am trying to decide what my New Year's Resolutions should be.

Clearly, I am going to make my annual I-am-going-to-get-healthy-this-year-and-this-time-I-mean-it! resolution. So other than that general goal, here are my resolutions:

1. To drink more water. What? It's really dry here in Colorado and I refuse to let my skin get all nasty and flaky.

2. To try really, really hard to love everyone. And by everyone I mean everyone. I mean the rude person in the Wal-Mart, that annoying person in my class at school who asks so many questions that he takes up all of the professor's time, everyone.

Wow. That one is a really big one. So maybe I'll just focus on that one and the annual I-am-going-to-get-healthy resolution and I will try to drink more water whenever I think of it. That should be plenty.

Oh! And one more:

3. To blog more often. And maybe I should try to think of something every post that I am grateful for. Because I have much to be grateful for in my life.

So there you have it--my resolutions for 2010. Happy New Year!

Tonight I am grateful for my husband. Who loves me and put up with my being ridiculously cranky tonight and giving him the silent treatment in the car coming home from Target. Who puts the kids to bed almost every single night and reads them all of the very long books I avoid when it's my turn to tuck them in and who reads them with loud, theatrical voices and outrageous John Cleese accents. Who picked out the sweetest things for my Christmas stocking, even though he complained that I am extremely hard to shop for. Who makes sure my humidifier is full and fully functioning at night so I will get better sooner.

Tell me, Gentle Reader, what are you grateful for tonight?

wheezer

I am sick. I think I get sick every winter. Do I? Maybe. Anyway, I am sick now. Luckily for me, Jonathan's parents are still visiting so they are playing with the kids all day and feeding them and putting them to bed and stuff. Which is awesome, because it allows me to sleep.

I am now past the feverish stage and fully enmeshed in the cranky-as-hell stage. I am just so tired of coughing and wheezing and blowing my nose. Tired. Of. It. I barely saw Jonathan's sister and her husband while they were here. I was lying in bed with a fever. Feeling guilty that I wasn't downstairs hanging out with them. A little bit, but mostly just feeling achy and miserable.

His parents leave soon. Tomorrow, maybe? And then God knows how we will get by. Because although I miss the children terribly and feel like I haven't seen them in months, when I am around them they are just so loud that my ears start ringing and I'm like, Get these noisy crazy monsters away from me!

So that should be fun.

Sorry to be so complainy. Merry freakin' Christmas. (Told you I was in the cranky-as-hell stage. You would be, too, trust me.)

6 things I love about my husband

(in no particular order)

1. he is so gorgeous
2. he is so passionate
3. he is so silly
4. he is so tall
5. he is a good father
6. he takes such good care of me

Happy birthday, honey!

6 things I do not believe in

1. ghosts
2. alien abductions
3. angels
4. customer service
5. the doomsday calender
6. politicians