Charley Webb is a smart, beautiful single mother-of-two who left New York City in search of her own version of paradise in Palm Beach, Florida. She now writes a column for the Palm Beach Post, in which she shares her views on sex, shopping and the more entertaining goings-on in her neighbours' lives - much to their disgust. Charley knows she's not the most popular person in town - but then she receives a letter from a genuine fan. Jill Rohmer is a young woman serving time on death row for the murders of three small children - and she wants Charley to write her biography. For there are many hidden truths surrounding the murders Jill is now ready to reveal, including the existence of a mysterious man she calls Jack. But as Charley begins to delve into Jill's background, she starts receiving threatening, anonymous letters regarding her own children. Jill is safely locked away - so does this mean the elusive Jack is still out there somewhere? Charley finds herself in a desperate race against time to unlock the secrets behind the murders before her own family becomes the killer's next target.
I thought this was a good read. Charley is very independent, and uses her independence to build up a wall that protects her from getting emotionally involved with other people, whether they be her neighbors, the mother who was gone for most of her life, her sisters, or even the fathers of her children. When she begins to dig into Jill Rohmer’s damaged world, cracks appear in her own wall. Despite the tweeness of the title of her newspaper column ("Webb Site", which the author tries painfully hard to make us believe is clever), I also enjoyed that side of Charley. Actually, I kinda wish she had spent more time in the office and less time driving around.
The plot builds well, and there are enough possible outcomes that when the twist occurs, you are surprised but find it believable. And then the second twist hits you and blows all of that out of the water. It’s hard to surprise me, but Fielding did it well. Charley’s Web is a little bit mystery, a little bit suspense, and a little bit family drama, and it all works quite well.
