Bump
Wagman is making something of a name for herself in the world of edgy fiction. Her first novel,Skin Deep(1997), was about a young woman's disturbing obsession with her physical appearance, while her second novel,Spontaneous(2000), addressed the phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion. Her newest book follows the lives of four total strangers whose paths have crossed after a three-car accident on an L.A. freeway. Dorothy, a hapless twentysomething, is about to marry a man she doesn't love; Madelyn is a depressed, unhappily married mother of two who has fallen in love with a client at the suicide hot line where she volunteers; Leo, who survived a nasty childhood with an abusive father, lives in his car; and Ray is a Beverly Hills cop obsessed with suicide whose wife has recently left him. The characters all have a slightly morbid quality, not a lighthearted one in the bunch. However, despite the relentlessly dark subject matter, Wagman's writing has a hypnotic, rhythmic quality that keeps the reader interested till the end.Kathleen HughesCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.