Someone to Blame
by C. S. Lakin
Review: C. S. Lakin's tense thriller, Someone to Blame, follows the lives of a family as they try to recover from the tragedy of losing their two teenaged sons, one killed in an accident, the other by suicide.
Daniel Moore was driving the car he and his brother Jesse were in when it crashed into concrete abutment one night. Jesse was killed instantly. Torn with grief, Daniel kills himself on the day of his high school graduation. Believing that the only way to start anew, the boys' parents, Matt and Irene together with their sister Casey, move upstate to the coastal community of Breakers. But it doesn't seem to help. Matt and Irene start to blame themselves: for not following through on Daniel's diagnosis as a child with ADD, that medication and treatment might have helped him develop into a more responsible person; for the perception they favored Jesse over Daniel as they were growing up; and myriad other reasons. Then a stranger enters their lives, a young man named Billy Thurber. Quiet and sullen, his appearance in Breakers coincides with a series of crimes, crimes the residents are quick to blame on him. And just as Matt and Irene begin to think that Daniel may have been a victim — not of any crime, but of parental decisions that affected his life — so too they think Billy Thurber may be as well.
Someone to Blame is a moving, albeit sometimes depressing story. The characters are realistically drawn and the foundation of the plot — that it's always easy to blame someone or something for life's misfortunes — is well told. In the end, difficult though it may be, healing only begins when one takes a hard look inward.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Someone to Blame.
Acknowledgment: C. S. Lakin provided a copy of Someone to Blame for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Someone to Blame: Pacific Northwest
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Someone to Blame by C. S. Lakin
Publisher: Zondervan
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-310-32739-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-32739-4
Publication Date: September 2010
List Price: $12.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): In the wake of heartrending family tragedies, Matt and Irene Moore move with their fourteen-year-old daughter, Casey, to a small town. Their goal is to get far away from the daily reminders that leave each of them raw and guilt-ridden. Their hope is to find redemption, repair, and renewal. Instead, the threads that hold them together unravel even more.
Breakers, a small community perched on the rocky coast of the Pacific Northwest, is draped with cold isolation that seems to mirror the hearts. As they settle into their new life, old grief settles with them. Matt is always on edge and easily angered, Irene is sad and pensive, and Casey is confused and defiant. They've once more set the stage for calamity. Into this mix comes Billy Thurber, a young drifter with his own conflicts, whose life unexpectedly entangles with the Moores'. His arrival in Breakers parallels a rash of hateful and senseless crimes, and soon the whole town — eager for someone to blame — goes after Thurber with murderous intent.
Out of this dangerous chaos, however, the Moores find unexpected grace and healing in a most unlikely way.