~Book Review~ The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne

Alex "Cat" Rucker drinks...a lot. She drinks to forget her past, her present and her future.

Cat receives word that her mother has committed suicide, so she must return to her childhood home from which she fled a decade earlier. Her mother has left her a cryptic suicide note that reads "He isn't who you think he is." She has no idea what her mothers' note means. Little does she know that she will be forced to face ghosts from her past...painful memories that she drinks to forget, but when she is faced with them in person, she finds that she can no longer run...she must confront them head on.

My thoughts on this book: I liked the storyline, however, I found it difficult to empathize with the main character. The chapters went back and forth from present time to the past. I was more interested in reading about Cat's past than the present. I did finish this book, although I admit it was not one that I thought about during the day, nor did I rush to pick it up in the evenings. My rating is 2 out of 5 stars. It was an ok read, not one that I would recommend to anyone.

Two Stars

ARC Librarything Early Reviewers

Publisher: Ballantine Books

225 pages

ISBN: 978-0-345-50731-0

~BOOK PREVIEW~ The Last Bridge by Terri Coyne

Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 21, 2009) Hardcover: 240 pages ISBN-10: 0345507312

I received an ARC copy of this book through LibraryThing.com's Early Reviewers.

Product Description from Amazon.com: For fans of Jodi Picoult and Sue Miller, a dark, edgy, page-turning debut about the lengths one woman will travel to escape her past After a ten-year absence, Alex “Cat” Rucker returns to her Ohio hometown because of a letter left on her mother’s kitchen table—a suicide note, carefully preserved in a Ziploc® bag, that reads: “He isn’t who you think he is. Love, Mom” Thus opens this stunning debut novel from author Teri Coyne, who, with wry humor and sharp wit, follows Alex’s journey through the traumatic experiences of her youth and the haze of her adult life. While Alex tries to repress the memories of her brutal childhood—an abusive father, her estranged (and possibly illegitimate) brother, and the first love who would do anything to save her—she must face just how shattered she still is. At each step Alex confronts her biggest fears, realizes the impact of her choices, and inches closer to redemption. Can she embrace her vulnerabilities, talents, and desire for love, or will the revelations of her mother’s cryptic note prove too overwhelming for her to bear? The Last Bridge is a perfect blend of suspense, despair, and romance—and at its heart lies the question: are we a product of our experiences or our choices?
Many thanks to Kathleen at Random House publishing for sending me this book.