She Treads Softly: I Have Something to Tell You

Thursday, October 21, 2021

I Have Something to Tell You

I Have Something to Tell You by Susan Lewis
10/26/21; 512 pages
HarperCollins

I Have Something to Tell You by Susan Lewis is a recommended legal procedural mixed with a domestic drama.

Jessica (Jay) Wells is a successful lawyer whose new case is defending Edward Blake, a man accused of killing his wife. She is sure he is innocent, in spite of the evidence to the contrary, and immediately sets out to uncover more information and secrets surrounding Blake's life as well as possible suspects and motives for the murder. During this same time Jay's long time marriage to Tom is threatened by his infidelity. She is already struggling with forgiving him when he informs her that he has something to tell her. The new information that surfaces strains both their marriage and her trust.

The novel starts out strong. The legal procedural and drama surrounding the case is both interesting and intriguing. Jay has a good professional working relationship with lead detective Ken Bright and the new information uncovered and the continuing search for facts surrounding the case is compelling. The novel would have been much stronger focusing on the case and the new discoveries. The story line about her marriage difficulties is less intriguing and then muddles the plot when the two story lines intermingle. This also takes away respect for the characters. Jay and Edward are interesting characters at first, when their interactions are professional, and then it changes. Tom is always self-centered and egocentric.

When I Have Something to Tell You started out, it looked like it would deserve five stars as a legal procedural. As the novel progressed, the direction it took lowered my enjoyment and rating. Again, it was as if something switched off in the writing and the novel morphed into a completely different story. There was a place in the novel where, if Lewis had changed her planned direction for the plot and had instead came to a conclusion, it would have deserved five stars. At 512 pages this would have been possible. Instead, she headed off in an unbelievable direction. This has happened before in another novel by Lewis. It is recommended, with the warning that the plot and ending will work for some readers and not for others.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.