Saving Meghan by DJ Palmer – 368 pages
ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.
Book Blurb:
The Gerards–gorgeous California-blonde Becky, her handsome, successful husband Carl, and their teen daughter, Meghan–should be the picture of a happy, American family. Yet persistent medical issues plaguing Meghan keep the family isolated and in turmoil. Becky’s life has been consumed with being a doting mother to now 15 year old Meghan, and the two have a strong and loving bond. But Megan has recently been experiencing scary physical symptoms, making her give up soccer, at which she was a star player. Meghan’s symptoms progress and Becky exhaustively looks for answers. Becky is obsessed with getting to the bottom of Meghan’s issues and leaves no stone unturned. Only Dr. Zach Fisher believes that Meghan has a real, though difficult to diagnose, illness – the same one that afflicted his own son. The rest of the medical community surrounding her is convinced that Becky is unfit and may even have Munchausen, to the point where even her own husband has his doubts. As the situation intensifies, more secrets come to light which drive Becky to commit a crime in the name of saving her only child. Part medical mystery, part murder mystery, this novel provides more twists and turns than a box of fusilli pasta and will keep readers guessing until the very end.
My Review: 3 stars – Guest Review
Saving Meghan had a premise that immediately intrigued me – a mother accused of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. I’ve never understood how a mother could subject her own child to endless doctors appointments, tests and even do things to make them physically sick. But Becky’s backstory is rich and fascinating and a good explanation for how a child subjected to a mother like hers could grow up to be a mother affected by Munchausen.
Becky’s desperation is well illustrated, as she severs ties with friends who have healthy children and turns toward friends on her self-created Facebook group, who commiserate with her and try to offer help and understanding. Meghan’s chapters were told in first person, and I appreciated hearing from her point of view, a confused and scared teen trying to understand what was going on in the complicated, grown up medical world she’d been thrust into. The other chapters were told from either Becky’s or Zach Fisher’s 3rd person viewpoint — or just simply an unnamed, omniscient viewpoint — which made things a bit confusing and made me wonder why the author employed that technique at all. Becky and Meghan are well-constructed characters with unique voices; Becky’s fear and concern for her daughter are believable and palpable, and Meghan’s confusion is as well. Some of the other characters blended together and were a bit one-dimensional, at least in my mind.
I definitely had no idea how this one was going to wrap up and I liked the suspense of that, as well as the strong mother/daughter relationship and the discovery of Carl’s true personality. This book is a medical mystery and a murder mystery all clunkily crolled up in one. There’s a lot to keep track of, but if you’re a fan of a twisty, turny, fast-paced read, you’ll like this one. Review by Guest Fairy Stephanie H.
Quotes I liked:
Her mother’s love was dished out like food rations, given only in times of great need.”
-“More children meant more of chances of something going wrong, because when you lose a child, no matter the circumstances, every day comes with potential new dangers.”
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