They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he's also passing through.
Yet she stays and he stays-drawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other-dangerous, even lethal, secrets that begin to accumulate as autumn approaches, feeding the growing doubts they conceal.
Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each other's lives and lies that neither one knows how to get away-or even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?
Something-or someone-has to give.
***
[It's the sunburned shoulders that get him] ***(William Morrow, 20 February 2018, ebook, 384 pages, copy from publisher via Above The Treeline and voluntarily reviewed)
***
***
This is my first time reading the author.
Sunburn is a cracking read, the kind of book that sucks you in and refuses to let go. I found myself increasingly absorbed in the complex plot, wondering what would be revealed next.
The book reminded me a lot of crime noir books.
Adam and Polly are fantastic characters, intriguing, complex, hard to get a real idea of. It is clear one of them is hiding something (likely more than one thing) but I had no idea who to believe. The book tackles a range of intense events including lies, lust, betrayal, revenge, blackmail and murder.
Lippman does a fantastic job of bringing all the threads of this tense, thrilling novel together.
Sunburn is well worth a read.
