On Friday the 29th July I read "Don't Tell" a 2003
novel about a woman married to an abusive man, who
is also a policeman.
After he pushes her down the stairs and almost
cripples her she is forced to secretly undergo
physical therpy (she does this herself as he
forbids her to go back to the hospital.) It takes
her two years but when she is capable of running
she takes their nearly 7 year old son and runs.
She sinks the family car in a lake and goes to a
woman's shelter where she takes on a new identity
and raises her son as a single mom. Skip ahead 7
years and she is almost finished her college degree
after which she intends to become a lawyer. She
becomes involved with a college professor just 2
weeks before the car is finally discovered and her
husband realises that she and the child were not
abducted and killed but she ran. Can't say any more
or will ruin the story for others who may want to
read it.
On Saturday I bought the newest James Patterson
novel. The story is about a woman married to a
cop. She finds out after 2 years of 'perfect'
marriage that her husband killed his first wife
when she became pregnant and he wanted her to have
an abortion and she left him instead. Jeanine finds
that she too is pregnant and realises she can't just
leave that he will track her down and most likey
kill her too.
There is a serial killer loose in the area. The
Jump Killer so named as he uses parachute rope to
tie up some of his victims.
She makes it look like she was taken by the Jump
Killer and goes of to New York where she raises
her daughter as a single mom. Skip ahead 17 years,
she is now a lawyer assigned a pro bono case.
The Jump Killer is on death row and will be
executed in ten days. But when she looks at the
picture of the man she is shocked to find that he
is black. On the night she ran away she did
actually come face to face with the Jump Killer
and he was WHITE. She HAS to GO HOME and save
this innoncent man. Will her husband Peter
see her and kill her? Can't say any more
otherwise will ruin the ending.
However, at this stage I was having real feelings
of deja vu. Not only were these two stories
similar but they reminded me of the film
"Sleeping With The Enemy" with Julia Roberts,
which was actually based on the 1987 novel of
the same name by Nancy Price. Where a young woman
secretly learns how to swim in order to fake her
death by drowning, to get away from her abusive
husband. She ends up in another town where she
becomes involved with a college professor.
I am not saying that there is plagiarism involved.
Just that the story lines are very alike. A woman
fakes her death to get away from a deadly spouse.
In two cases there is a child involved. In two
cases a college professor. In two cases the
husband is a cop. In two cases the run away wife
studies law. In two of the cases the wife secretly
undergoes 'training' to effect her escape.
I guess it is true that there are no new stories
only repeated ones with variations.
By the way both stories were good reads otherwise
I would not have finished them in one day!
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