Book Review--The Escape Artist, by Diane Chamberlain

This book is so-named because the protagonist, Susanna Miller, has a habit of running away from her problems. Not that this isn't understandable. When Susanna developed this habit, she was running from her abusive, alcoholic parents.

Now Susanna is sure that running away is the right thing to do again. She has just lost custody of her 11-month-old son to her ex-husband and his new wife. Having been afraid this would happen and unable to bear the thought of giving Tyler up, Susanna had been plotting her escape for weeks. Without even letting her boyfriend, a man whom she has loved for years, in on what she is doing, Susanna slips away in the night. In leaving Boulder, she leaves behind the only city in which she has ever lived.

Susanna dyes her hair, changes her name, and makes a new life for herself in Annapolis, Maryland, but it is difficult. She is afraid to trust anyone. She does befriend a local artist and his sister, both of whom are haunted by tragedy. But even when she becomes romantically involved with the artist, she is unable to forget her previous boyfriend, Linc, back in Boulder. And her new life may turn out to be even more dangerous than she feared it might be.

Though it's really Susanna's story, part of the book are from Tyler's stepmother Peggy's point of view. I wanted to dislike Peggy, but really, I think she honestly thought Tyler would be better off with her and his father. Her perceptions were tainted by her husband's unfair criticism of Susanna and her own desperate wish for a child, but it took her awhile to realize that. She was way too quick to believe her husband, who was a first-class jerk.

The books I've read by Diane Chamberlain are exceedingly difficult to put down. I think I've read most of them already, but I must read more.