Deep End

I really have enjoyed all of Joy Fielding's books, and this is one of the older ones I really had fun reading!! Joanne, the main character of the story is a housewife raising 2 girls. She and her husband Paul have temporarily separated, and Joanne would like nothing more than to get back together again. Along with everything else though, is these scary obscene phone calls that Joanne has been getting over and over again. This caller keeps telling her to read the morning paper, page 13, where a woman was cut to pieces. As the calls go on, Joanne is terrified, but nobody believes her. The last person to believe Joanne is her best friend Eve, who lives next door and has her own set of problems it seems. Eve is battling many different types of ailments that the doctors don't know what it is. And as time goes along further, Eve gets to acting a little stranger each and every day. Joanne begins to wonder what is really going on with her best friend, and tries to put what is really going on together between the phone calls, and Eve's strange actions. What she discovers might be surprising, but she may be fighting for her life.

I really enjoyed this story about Joanne, a stay-at-home mom who is devastated when her husband decides to leave her "to find himself". It was interesting watching her change from being a doormat to her husband, her two daughters, and her best friend from high school; all of whom take advantage of her in there own ways. On top of having to deal with these people who she dearly loves but who treat her like crap, she has to put up with some maniac making threatening phone calls telling her he's going to kill her. Everyone assures her she's making a mountain out of a molehole and question her sanity. They also unkindly suggest that she may be making the whole thing up! As the book progresses we see Joanne change from everybody's favorite whipping girl into an assertive, attractive, don't walk all over me anymore kind of girl. I was kept guessing until the end about who her stalker was and enjoyed every minute of this book.

A woman living separated from her husband, not sure whether she really wants this...a best friend who might not be so good after all...and a telephone that won't stop ringing - these are the main ingredients Ms. Fielding uses to create a book you won't forget. It was my first Fielding novel, I was still a teenager, and it got me hooked to her novels forever. A little anecdote to go with this: I lost the book shortly after having read it among my Mother's 1000 (!) books and as I had forgotten its title (thou not the author's name) I couldn't re-buy it. A few years later I spotted the novel in a dep store, recognized it by the text on the back cover - and BOUGHT IT ON THE SPOT! Definitely one of the best bools I ever laid hands on.

Love the characters, love the plot, and love the suspense! Don't read this at home alone!

I can't remember the last time I was so involved in the plot of a story that I was truly afraid. The main plot was the same as in a hundred horror movies where a woman is alone in a house, getting strange phone calls, believes the culprit is caught and then...Although it sounds familiar and predictable Joy Fielding writes as though you can feel Joanne's terror. Throughout the story many characters are introduced who may be the culprit but I was guessing up until the end. Focus on relationships, friendships and suspense was not absent in this book. A book I would highly recommend.