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Summary
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Think Twice and Look Again comes an emotionally powerful novel about a split-second choice, agonizing consequences, and the need for justice Rose McKenna volunteers as a lunch mom in her daughter Melly's school in order to keep an eye on Amanda, a mean girl who's been bullying her daughter. Her fears come true when the bullying begins, sending Melly to the bathroom in tears. Just as Rose is about to follow after her daughter, a massive explosion goes off in the kitchen, sending the room into chaos. Rose finds herself faced with the horrifying decision of whether or not to run to the bathroom to rescue her daughter or usher Amanda to safety. She believes she has accomplished both, only to discover that Amanda, for an unknown reason, ran back into the school once out of Rose's sight. In an instance, Rose goes from hero to villain as the small community blames Amanda's injuries on her. In the days that follow, Rose's life starts to fall to pieces, Amanda's mother decides to sue, her marriage is put to the test, and worse, when her daughter returns to school, the bullying only intensifies. Rose must take matters into her own hands and get down to the truth of what really happened that fateful day in order to save herself, her marriage and her family. In the way that Look Again had readers questioning everything they thought they knew about family, Save Me will have readers wondering just how far they would go to save the ones they love. Lisa Scottoline is writing about real issues that resonate with real women, and the results are emotional, heartbreaking and honest.
Author Notes
Lisa Scottoline was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1955. She received a B.A. in English with a concentration in the contemporary American novel from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981. Before becoming an author, she worked as a trial lawyer.
Her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, was published in 1994. Her other books include Come Home, Keep Quiet, Every Fifteen Minutes, and Most Wanted. She also writes the Rosato and Associates series and the Rosato and Dinunzio Novel series.
Lisa's title, Daddy's Girl, is a April 2016 New York Times bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of this gut-wrenching stand-alone from bestseller Scottoline (Think Twice), an explosion rips through the nearly empty cafeteria of Reesburgh (Pa.) Elementary School. Lunch mother Rose McKenna leads two girls to safety before racing to rescue her own daughter, Melly, but Rose soon learns that she may face both civil and criminal charges for her heroics because one of the girls she saved was seriously injured in the resulting fire that killed three school staff members. The tension rises as the united front presented by Rose and her lawyer husband, Leo Ingrassia, begins to disintegrate in the face of media demands, legal maneuverings, and social pressures. Rose must also deal with school bullying (Melly has a noticeable facial blemish), difficult legal problems, and her husband's reaction when a secret from her past is revealed. Scottoline melds it all into a satisfying nail-biting thriller sure to please her growing audience. 400,000 first printing; author tour. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Suburban mom Susan Pressman is forced to make a split-second decision after an explosion goes off in the school cafeteria in which she volunteers. Should she rescue her own daughter, Melly, trapped in the bathroom, or lead the girls standing in front of her, who constantly bully her daughter, to safety? Her choice reverberates throughout the little town of Reesburgh, Pennsylvania, as she is cast as the villain by the local news anchor, parents, and the school. While her attorney and husband construct a defense plan that includes filing a lawsuit against the school, Susan sets out to seek the truth behind this mysterious, accidental fire. With the help of a construction worker who may know the cause of the explosion as well as an incognito visit to a local factory, Susan slowly unravels the truth and along with it some hidden secrets in Reesburgh's dark past, including one horrifying buried memory of her own. At the quick pace of a thriller, Scottoline masterfully fits every detail into a tight plot chock-full of real characters, real issues, and real thrills. A story anchored by the impenetrable power of a mother's love, it begs the question, just how far would you go to save your child?--McCormick, Annie Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
BULLYING is a topic that seems to push everyone's hot buttons (even President Obama recorded his own antibullying message). But while most attention centers on the damage done to kids, Lisa Scottoline, in her latest legal thriller, nimbly homes in on the ordeals inflicted on parents - of both the tormented and the tormentors. Normally you can expect a Scottoline novel to feature strong women, usually litigators, who fight their own battles. But the heroine in "Save Me," Rose McKenna, is an upper-middle-class "lunch mom" (and former model) who volunteers to help out at the school cafeteria, mainly to keep watch on her daughter, Melly, a third grader with a Harry Potter obsession and "a port-wine birthmark" splashed across her cheek. Melly is the target of two viper classmates, and Rose catches one of them smearing grape jelly on her face, in cruel imitation of Melly's birthmark. When the child tearfully flees to the bathroom, Rose chastises the mean girls. Suddenly a powerful explosion goes off in the cafeteria kitchen, and Rose now faces a horrific moral choice: if she leaves the scene to rescue her daughter, she'll have to abandon the two bullies, both helpless as "fire licked across the ceiling, superheating the air." Rose splits the difference. She hustles the girls toward the playground, trusting them to get there on their own, and then races back for Melly, who is unconscious, but survives. Three school employees the in the explosion, however, and Melly's chief tormentor, Amanda Gigot, discovered inside the burning building, falls into a coma. Rose, initially hailed as a "Hero Mom," and "multi-tasker extraordinaire" is soon accused of having deliberately ignored the other girls, perhaps in retaliation for their bullying. It may take a village to raise a child, but a small, tight community can also destroy a parent, even in Scottoline's Reesburgh, Pa., an idyllic Philadelphia suburb of "quaint brick homes, with their Victorian porches," renovated facades shaded by "tall, ancient trees" and fleets of S.U.V.'s and minivans. As the TV cameras close in, local sympathy shifts to Amanda's "hard-working single mom," already widowed (her husband died in a forklift accident), even after she secures a "spokesman" and threatens suit against the district, the school and the building contractor. Rose, recast as the overprotective tigress, is ostracized, besieged by hate e-mails ("All you did was save your own hide and child") and disturbing Facebook taunts ("HOW DO YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF?"). Worse, she faces a possible murder indictment, among other ugly legal ramifications that Scottoline, a former litigator, describes in chilling "it can't happen here" detail. Rose's husband, an overworked lawyer, finds her two hotshot attorneys - one to handle the criminal charges, the other civil claims - but their strategy is for Rose to take a pre-emptive, bullying stance against the school she loves. Pushed around by her lawyers, who override her demurrals and duck her most urgent calls, Rose is also hounded by reporters, who dig up a damning tragedy from her past, alienating her husband, previously a paragon of understanding. "Babe, we don't have any friends," he bitterly declares at one point. "Nobody knows us, and what they know, they don't like." Rose, becoming more and more of a pariah, begins to question what it really means to belong and whom she can really trust. And in true Scottoline fashion, she not only suspects foul play, she takes matters into her own hands to ferret out the truth. It is then that the pace of the novel speeds up, each staccato chapter adding new and unexpected turns, so many you could get whiplash just turning a page. Scottoline knows how to keep readers in her grip. Still, there are a few bumps. It's clear Rose feels her only recourse is to fire her lawyers, but why doesn't she look for other, betters ones, especially since she could be facing jail time? And Scottoline, so attentive to plot, is indifferent to character. Melly's favorite teacher, who has a high-profile secret, sits inertly on the page, more plot device than real person. Other characters exist chiefly to present Rose with exactly the information she needs just when she needs it. BUT, in truth, who cares, when there is one thrill after another, particularly once the narrative moves into the legal and investigative realms where Scottoline excels? As Rose uncovers the truth behind the explosion at the school, serious matters - of greed, loyalty, motherhood, dark motive - come to the fore. Ultimately, though, Scottoline's subject is "the most emotional of all relationships, mother and child." And Rose discovers what we really owe our own children, other people's children and even other parents. "Every mom is an action hero," she concludes. "Save Me" isn't just about a devoted mother protecting her bullied child. It's really about one brave and determined woman who finds the means to save herself. It may take a village to raise a child, but a small, tight community can also destroy a parent. Caroline Leavitt's new novel is "Pictures of You."
Kirkus Review
The creator of Philadelphia lawyer Bennie Rosato (Think Twice, 2010, etc.) pens another white-hot crossover novel about the perils of mother love.One minute catalog modelturnedlunchroom mom Rose McKenna is keeping third-grade bully Amanda Gigot from leaving the Reesburgh Elementary cafeteria while she tells Amanda that she shouldn't make fun of Rose's daughter, Melinda Cadiz, because of the port wine birthmark on her cheek; the next, she's agonizing over which child to save first from an explosion that's ripped through the school cafeteria. Rose's reflexes make what she ends up deciding were the best decisions at the time: She led Amanda and her friends to the door to safety, then went back to look for Melly, who'd hidden in a rest room. But Eileen Gigot and her many friends in the school don't agree. They accuse Rose of detaining Amanda, now lying in a hospital in a coma, then leaving her in the care of another 8-year-old so that she could rescue her own daughter, who's making a full recovery. Rose is stung by shock, then guilt, and finally outrage when she realizes that Eileen may file both civil and criminal actions against her. Worse, she learns that her one ally in Reesburgh Elementary, gifted teacher Kristen Canton, is leaving. Worse still, the hardball litigator her understanding husband, attorney Leo Ingrassia, has dug up for her, is anticipating possible prosecution by taking an aggressive stand on his client's behalf, positioning Rose as exactly the sort of bully she's been trying to protect her daughter from. So when Kurt Rehgard, a carpenter who'd hinted that the explosion was an extremely suspicious accident, is killed together with the contractor friend he'd confided in, Rose parks Melly with some sympathetic neighbors for a few days and takes it upon herself to discover exactly what happened and why.Scottoline, who shifts gears at every curve with the cool efficiency of a NASCAR driver, expertly fuels her target audience's dearest fantasy: "Every mom is an action hero."]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Scottoline's latest stand-alone novel, after Think Twice (2010); simultaneous release with the St. Martin's hc (400,000-copy first printing); Cynthia Nixon reads. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter One Rose McKenna stood against the wall in the noisy cafeteria, having volunteered as lunch mom, which is like a security guard with eyeliner. Two hundred children were talking, thumb-wrestling, or getting ready for recess, because lunch period was almost over. Rose was keeping an eye on her daughter, Melly, who was at the same table as the meanest girl in third grade. If there was any trouble, Rose was going to morph into a mother lion, in clogs. Melly sat alone at the end of the table, sorting her fruit treats into a disjointed rainbow. She kept her head down, and her wavy, dark blond hair fell into her face, covering the port-wine birthmark on her cheek, a large round blotch like blusher gone haywire. Its medical term was nevus flammeus, an angry tangle of blood vessels under the skin, but it was Melly's own personal bull's-eye. It had made her a target for bullies ever since pre-school, and she'd developed tricks to hide it, like keeping her face down, resting her cheek in her hand, or at naptime, lying on her left side, still as a chalk outline at a murder scene. None of the tricks worked forever. The mean girl's name was Amanda Gigot, and she sat at the opposite end of the table, showing an iPod to her friends. Amanda was the prettiest girl in their class, with the requisite straight blond hair, bright blue eyes, and perfect smile, and she dressed like a teenager in a white jersey tank, pink ruffled skirt, and gold Candie's sandals. Amanda wasn't what people pictured when they heard the term "bully," but wolves could dress in sheep's clothing or Juicy Couture. Amanda was smart and verbal enough to tease at will, which earned her a fear-induced popularity found in elementary schools and fascist dictatorships. It was early October, but Amanda was already calling Melly names like Spot The Dog and barking whenever she came into the classroom, and Rose prayed it wouldn't get worse. They'd moved here over the summer to get away from the teasing in their old school, where it had gotten so bad that Melly developed stomachaches and eating problems. She'd had trouble sleeping and she'd wake up exhausted, inventing reasons not to go to school. She tested as gifted, but her grades hovered at C's because of her absences. Rose had higher hopes here, since Reesburgh Elementary was in a better school district, with an innovative, anti-bullying curriculum. She couldn't have wished for a more beautiful school building, either. It was brand-new construction, just finished last August, and the cafeteria was state-of-the-art, with modern skylights, shiny tables with blue plastic seats, and cheery blue-and-white tile walls. Bulletin boards around the room were decorated for Halloween, with construction-paper pumpkins, papier-mâché spiders, and black cats, their tails stiff as exclamation points. A wall clock covered with fake cobwebs read 11:20, and most of the kids were stowing their lunchboxes in the plastic bins for each homeroom and leaving through the doors to the playground, on the left. Rose checked Melly's table, and was dismayed. Amanda and her friends Emily and Danielle were finishing their sandwiches, but Melly's lunch remained untouched in her purple Harry Potter lunchbox. The gifted teacher, Kristen Canton, had emailed Rose that Melly sometimes didn't eat at lunch and waited out the period in the handicapped bathroom, so Rose had volunteered as lunch mom to see what was going on. She couldn't ignore it, but she didn't want to overreact, walking a familiar parental tightrope. "Oh no, I spilled!" cried a little girl whose milk carton tipped over, splashing onto the floor. "It's okay, honey." Rose went over, grabbed a paper napkin, and swabbed up the milk. "Put your tray away. Then you can go out." Rose tossed out the soggy napkin, then heard a commotion behind her and turned around, stricken at the sight. Amanda was dabbing grape jelly onto her cheek, making a replica of Melly's birthmark. Everyone at the table was giggling, and kids on their way out pointed and laughed. Melly was running from the cafeteria, her long hair flying. She was heading toward the exit for the handicapped bathroom, on the right. "Melly, wait!" Rose called out, but Melly was already past her, so she went back to the lunch table. "Amanda, what are you doing? That's not nice." Amanda tilted her face down to hide her smile, but Emily and Danielle stopped laughing, their faces reddening. "I didn't do anything." Emily's lower lip began to pucker, and Danielle shook her head, with its long, dark braid. "Me, neither," she said. The other girls scattered, and the rest of the kids hustled out to recess. "You girls laughed," Rose said, pained. "That's not right, and you should know that. You're making fun of her." She turned to Amanda, who was wiping off the jelly with a napkin. "Amanda, don't you understand how hurtful you're being? Can't you put yourself in Melly's shoes? She can't help the way she is, nobody can." Amanda didn't reply, setting down the crumpled napkin. "Look at that bulletin board. See what it says?" Rose pointed to the Building Blocks of Character poster, with its glittery letters that read CARING COMPASSION COMMUNITY, from Reesburgh's anti-bullying curriculum. "Teasing isn't caring or compassionate, and--" "What's going on?" someone called out, and Rose looked up to see the other lunch mom hurrying over. She had on a denim dress and sandals, and wore her highlighted hair short. "Excuse me, we have to get these girls out to recess." "Did you see what just happened?" "No, I missed it." "Well, Amanda was teasing and--" Amanda interrupted, "Hi, Mrs. Douglas." "Hi, Amanda." The lunch mom turned to Rose. "We have to get everybody outside, so the kitchen can get ready for B lunch." She gestured behind her, where the last students were leaving the cafeteria. "See? Time to go." "I know, but Amanda was teasing my daughter, Melly, so I was talking to her about it." "You're new, right? I'm Terry Douglas. Have you ever been lunch mom before?" "No." "So you don't know the procedures. The lunch moms aren't supposed to discipline the students." "I'm not disciplining them. I'm just talking to them." "Whatever, it's not going well." Terry nodded toward Emily, just as a tear rolled down the little girl's cheek. "Oh, jeez, sorry." Rose didn't think she'd been stern, but she was tired and maybe she'd sounded cranky. She'd been up late with baby John, who had another ear infection, and she'd felt guilty taking him to a sitter's this morning so she could be lunch mom. He was only ten months old, and Rose was still getting the hang of mothering two children. Most of the time she felt torn in half, taking care of one child at the expense of the other, like the maternal equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul. "Terry, the thing is, this school has a strict zero-tolerance policy against bullying, and the kids need to learn it. All the kids. The kids who tease, as well as the allies, the kids who laugh and think it's funny." "Nevertheless, when there's a disciplinary issue, the procedure is for the lunch mom to tell a teacher. Mrs. Snyder is out on the playground. These girls should go out to recess, and you should take it up with her." "Can I just finish what I was saying to them? That's all this requires." Rose didn't want to make it bigger, for Melly's sake. She could already hear the kids calling her a tattletale. "Then I'll go get her myself." Terry turned on her heel and walked away, and the cafeteria fell silent except for the clatter of trays and silverware in the kitchen. Rose faced the table. "Amanda," she began, dialing back her tone, "you have to understand that teasing is bullying. Words can hurt as much as a punch." "You're not allowed to yell at me! Mrs. Douglas said!" Rose blinked, surprised. She'd be damned if she'd be intimidated by somebody in a Hannah Montana headband. "I'm not yelling at you," she said calmly. "I'm going to recess!" Amanda jumped to her feet, startling Emily and Danielle. Suddenly, something exploded in the kitchen. A searing white light flashed in the kitchen doorway. Rose turned toward the ear-splitting boom ! The kitchen wall flew apart, spraying shards of tile, wood, and wallboard everywhere. A shockwave knocked Rose off her feet. A fireball billowed into the cafeteria. And everything went black and silent. Copyright (c) 2011 by Lisa Scottoline Excerpted from Save Me by Lisa Scottoline All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
