Review: Generic thriller about victimized women -- no surprises here!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2013
Pegi Price's NOT DEAD YET is a generic thriller that ticks all the expected boxes without ever coming close to surprising the reader.  Protagonist Theia Pearson suffered for years at the hands of her abusive husband, Dr. Foster.  Foster tried to kill Theia, but she survived and he was apparently killed by the police.  Now, five years later, Theia is an attorney representing abused women trying to escape their monstrous husbands.  She still has nightmares about Foster, and she's sworn off all men, but at least she's alive.  When her latest client, Rose Catalino, disappears, it appears likely that Rose's abusive husband Donald is the culprit.  Theia joins forces with her friend Lu, Lu's brother Jack, and Rose's sister Colleen to find Donald and rescue Rose before it's too late.  But something more may be going on.  Could Theia's nightmares about her psychotic ex-husband be more than just dreams?What happens in NOT DEAD YET is pretty much what you expect to happen.  The police are all idiots, who can't be counted on to do anything about Rose's disappearance (even the presence of blood in Rose's apartment, a recorded hysterical phone call to Theia, and a horrifying video of a broken and near-dead Rose aren't enough to interest them in investigating the case).  So of course the task falls to Theia and her friends.  Jack is an ex-military security expert who falls for Theia the second he meets her; she falls for him, too, but she tries to fight her feelings (remember, she's sworn off men).  And there's never any doubt who's behind Donald's abduction of Rose, and why.  The title of the book gives everything away!Price isn't a particularly original writer - everything that happens in NOT DEAD YET has been done before in countless movies and novels.  There are hints here of "Fargo" (minus the Coen brothers' acerbic wit) and any number of "torture-porn" films that have hit theaters in the last decade.  But the story is fast-paced and action-centered, which should be attractive to fans of cinema-style thrillers.  The ending, however, is excruciatingly drawn out, as the central characters virtually talk each other to death for the final thirty or so pages.  Would a deranged lunatic really spend what seems like hours arguing with his prospective victims?  I don't know, but it didn't work for me.NOT DEAD YET is the first of a trilogy of thrillers, all involving Theia Pearson, who seems to be the quintessential victim.  If one madman can't kill her, another one will step up to the plate soon enough.  If that's your cup of tea, give this series a try.  I think I'll stop here.[Please note:  I was provided a copy of this book for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]