Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline Edition: Hardcover Price: $15.98
Not Shocking, Surprising or Thrilling, April 14, 2013 This review is from: Don't Go (Hardcover) Don’t Go - by: Lisa Scottoline It is going to be quite difficult to describe why I did not see this novel in the same light so many others have.  However, I will try. I have to wonder just why the editor/publisher chose not to add a synopsis of the book here but used the first chapter, which has nothing to do with giving an over-all look at the book.  Ms. Scottoline wrote this as if it was two almost separate books in one.  The first book was the emotional one, dealing with the death of Chloe and then several of the members of his medical team.  This first half was written while Mike was still at war and was filled with a lot of medical technical jargon. The second book deals with Mike coming back to the US, dealing with his medical condition and trying to become a proper father to his daughter. It reads as if the time passage is much longer but only about a week goes by while it is all hitting the fan. All I could think while I was reading this novel was just how obvious everything was.  You knew every mistake Mike was making BEFORE he made it just by reading closely I had no sympathy for Mike or any of the other main characters in this book.  Where I should have been experiencing deep emotion, I was rolling my eyes. He was always using what could be termed ‘the easy way out’ and I never saw him as good father material. ------------ SPOILERISH--------- By the time   Bob and Danielle was having  Mike’s parental judgment questioned and they all went to court, if you read between the lines as I did, you knew it was coming right from the time that he went back to war after Chloe’s death. You just knew these two were hoping that he would make some sort of mistake and they would get Emily’s custody. The fact that they waited less than a week to do this cruel thing, was quite telling. The clues were there all along as to who fathered Chloe’s love child too. -------------END SPOILER<------------------>  What kind of Aunt and Uncle would EVER allow this child to call them Mom and Dad; this was just beyond wrong.  I have no children and my younger sister has four, and even if something had happened to my sister when the kids were young, I would never want to take away her memory as their mother by allowing the kids to call me mom. Moreover, to have Emily call Bob Dad, when she still has one is in my estimation – self -serving and vile. I could not warm to anyone in this novel and I find that amazing.  Usually you end up liking or sympathizing with someone, but not in this book. Nothing came as a shock to me, surprised me, or thrilled me in this entire novel. There was an exciting ending, but it was too little too late to make much of a difference.