Fragile

A Novel

By: Lisa Unger

Narrated by: Nancy Linari

A thrilling novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger about the hunt for a missing girl and one community’s intricate yet fragile bonds.

“[A] nail-biting nuanced whodunit.”—People

Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It’s a place where neighbors keep an eye on one another’s kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high school cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a child, Maggie found living under the microscope of small-town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she has happily returned to The Hollows’s insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients’ lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son, Rick, disappears, Maggie’s intuitive gift proves useful to the case—and also dangerous.

Eerie parallels soon emerge between Charlene’s disappearance and the abduction of another local girl that shook the community years ago when Maggie was a teenager. The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely. Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn. In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father.

As she tries to reassure him that Rick embodies his father in all of the important ways, Maggie realizes this might be exactly what Jones fears most. Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene’s disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret—one that could destroy everything she holds dear.

©2010 Lisa Unger (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“Folks in a small town descend into darkness and revisit long forgotten memories when a young girl disappears. . . . [A] simmering, tragic tale. Fans of authors like Jodi Picoult will want to read this one in a nice comfortable chair. . . . Unger's fans won't be disappointed.” (Associated Press)

“This one is a stunner. . . . Unger’s genius is in plotting the story so that the reader never knows what’s coming next. . . .This is a read that will stay with you.” (New York Journal of Books Review)

“If you're a fan of Jodi Picoult's family chronicle storytelling, you'll enjoy Fragile, too. It's set in a small affluent town outside New York, where everyone knows someone who kissed the pizza guy once and many have ugly memories and buried secrets. When a teenage girl goes missing, the lives of all who knew her unravel. Unger balances nicely the suspense of her missing person story (a layered one when the vanishing of another teenage girl 30 years earlier is connected) with deeper sentiments. How do you live in the present when the past has broken you?” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Lisa Unger Knocks It Out of the Park Again

This is the 3rd book of hers, but 1st I've left a review for. I've been reading a new one as soon as I'm done with the previous. I adore her writing; it is incredibly smart, accessible, and Unger knows about the human psyche and its many manifestations in a way I'm not sure I've seen before. The psychological aspect with each plot is complex, detailed & she weaves vocabulary like a poem of sentences. She also picks great narrators for all of them- it's like their voices were made for the stories. Quit reading this and go listen!

So good, I am hooked!!

I love the character development, the only thing that bothers me about the book was Maggie being the therapist for people she knows personally, I don't give anything away. As a licensed therapist (retired) I can say that is a big No No and even a fictious ethical breach annoys me, other then that I really identified with Maggie's insights on being a mother who's child is in the stage that her son was in and her emotional reflections of a motherhood. The narrator did a great job and I was locked into the story the entire time, so much so that I was inspired to listen to Darkness My Old Friend next, I just can't seem to get enough of the Hollows. I recommend this book it has All the Feels!

An interesting novel, well written and captivating

Lisa Unger expertly builds a complex story of lives and tragedies in a small community. The thread is the disparition of two young girls two decades apart. The protagonists are linked in many ways and the the truth is slowly revealed.
I enjoyed the journey.

Boring

Disliked character development, too many characters, story lines unclear and difficult to follow. I am an audiobook listener of many years, as well as an avid reader for 70 years.

Lays a Good Foundation ...

Would you consider the audio edition of Fragile to be better than the print version?

In some ways, it was a very good dramatization & gave good depth to characters.

What other book might you compare Fragile to and why?

Some of the back story novels of strong female roles; Iris Johansen's Eve Duncan or Tess Gerritsen's Jane Rizzoli, a prequel that explains some of their motives in future books.

Which scene was your favorite?

Resolving the mysteries of past generations, putting past demons to rest.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me smile, to think that old wrongs were righted.

Any additional comments?

A good story, laying the groundwork for sequels that I will definately put on my wishlist.

Twists and turns

If you enjoy a book with twists and turns then this is a book for you. Add the setting if a small town with interwoven lives and you will need to pay attention.

Interesting

The story kept my interest throughout. Being married to a clinical psychologist myself, I thought her character, Maggie, was good as a therapist. Lesson on keeping secrets was compelling in that they can come back to haunt you, and can also make your life complicated and miserable. I like this author and have listened to a couple other books, I’ll continue to add to my library.

Slow and meandering

There is still half an hour left and it feels never-ending. It was a very ordinary story, I can't believe it had so many good reviews. I liked Lisa Unger's another book and that is why I bought this one but it was a mistake. I am not listening to the second book. The narrator was just so slow and was not right for this book. I was sad to see that she is narrating most of Unger's books.

20% story - 80% clutter

I am about two thirds of the way done with this story and I can’t stand it. It’s not the plot, it’s the writing.

EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. OR. THING comes with a back-story. There is a description and explanation for EVERYTHING and it goes on and on and on…. It’s borderline a collection of short stories there are so many tangents. The watch on his wrist (a Timex he bought 20 years ago), the lamp in the table (a stained glass creation he used to love, now hates), the grocery clerk (the type of person you can trust), the pizza (not as greasy as the one from the other place) IT NEVER ENDS! I swear it’s 20% story and 80% endless, pointless describing.

It’s driving me crazy, there is so much USELESS detail that doesn’t move the story along!!!! There is “filling out the picture” and then there is “all show and no tell” …. I don’t even know what this is, it takes constant rambling into the stratosphere; it’s so full of clutter.

At this point, I have to say that it’s actually becoming quite funny. I’ll finish the book but I can’t imagine ever picking up another one by the same author.

Fragile is fuzzy

I have to admit I had an upper respiratory infection for most of the time I listened to this so maybe that is why I had such a hard time with this book. The book deals with a murder from the past and a murder in the present. Unfortunately for me, the characters in the past were so similar to the characters in the present, I could not keep up with whether we were in the past or present. The murders were also very similar which made it more difficult for me to figure out if it was past or present.

Usually, I love this kind of book but for me, this just wasn't it.