Charly's Web - Joy Fielding

There are legions of Joy Fielding fans. Her novels make best selling lists and I'm sure Charley's Web will be no exception.

Fielding's protagonists are usually female. There is generally some sort of family and/or personal dysfunction going on. Add in a suspenseful situation that somehow solves itself and most of the problems by the end of the novel.

Charley's Web is no exception. Charley (Charlotte) and her sisters are named for the Bronte sisters as well as a 'cute' play on the children's book Charlotte's Web. Their family relationships are in the pits. A convicted female murderer asks Charley to write her story. Charley agrees and soon after she receives death threats against her children. Hmm - connected? Some twists and turns with some romance thrown in and abracadabra, Charley 'grows up' and everything is hunky dory.

I felt the characters were caricatures, the plot contrived and unbelievable.


Okay I did finish it. Lots of readers will. It's not a bad book, just not for me thanks. If you like Iris Johansen or Sandra Brown, you'll like it.