Maternal Harbor

This is a pretty standard thriller with a pretty standard plot. There's really nothing here to get excited about, and nothing really wrong, but while I hoped for a passable story that was never my main reason for downloading this book.

I realized that, without really meaning to, the vast majority of authors I've been reading over the last several months have been male. Now there's nothing wrong with male authors, but I woke up to the fact that I needed some gender variety in my reading and Ms. Martin, in the sample I read, seemed like a good choice.

And she was, especially with how she portrayed the female characters, which is another reason I chose this book; the story revolved around women. I wanted to read someone who could realistically write from a feminine viewpoint; who could accurately reflect women's feelings (something I don't think male writers can usually do, at least not all that well); and who could capture the way that women interact with each other. On all these points, Ms. Martin came through in a fantastic way.