“Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now, and Sunburn is her dark, gleaming noir gem. Read it.” -Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a … Girl
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a superb novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck: two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayals—and cold-blooded murder.
One is playing a long game. But which one?
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.
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.
Which one will it be?
Inspired by James M. Cain’s masterpieces The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, Sunburn is a tantalizing modern noir from the incomparable Laura Lippman.
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Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now, and Sunburn is her dark, gleaming noir gem. Read it.
Sly, smart and utterly captivating. Among Laura Lippman’s twistiest and best and both a great homage to the noir tradition and a clever upturning of that tradition. The master!
Two men, more added on, one woman, many lies and a lot of deceit.
SUNBURN has your brain burning to find out what is really going on.
Polly has just left her husband, Gregg, and her daughter, Jani, while they were at the beach. She had it planned, but we don’t know why.
Gregg was ready to leave the marriage, but Polly took off first.
Adam is also mysterious because we don’t know what he is up to since he showed up at the same time Polly did and decided to hang around and work at the same place Polly found a job.
The suspense continues non-stop as secrets come out and Polly keeps manipulating and planning. She has a secret she won’t tell and things she needs to take care of.
Surprises continue to pop up, and the intrigue intensifies as Polly continues to secretly and mysteriously do what she does best.
Wow…Ms. Lippman has outdone herself with this book.
Absolutely loved it…the entire storyline and ending were great!!
Ms. Lippman has written another psychological page turner which is going to be a favorite.
SUNBURN is truly a masterpiece of suspense!! One of her best. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher, Bookperk, PageTurners, and Edelweiss in return for an honest review.
Really enjoyed this fresh take on some old noir tropes and conventions. A new look at the femme fatale character that you won’t soon forget. Embarrassed to admit, but this was my fist Laura Lippman read and will not be my last.
Meet Polly, a woman with terrible taste in men who’s determined to turn her life around. Then she falls in love one more time in a sultry beach town. Mayhem ensues, and we learn Polly is playing a very long game indeed. Noir at its best!
As with all of her novels, Lippman balances a page-turning experience with impeccable insight into her characters. While her characters weren’t always traditionally “likeable,” they were relatable–and very well. I really understood each one, by the end, and felt like I dropped right into their world. I read this one as an audiobook and the narrator (Susan Bennett) was outstanding.
Laura Lippman delivers a story that asks questions steeped in questions. The first is who is Polly Hansen? The woman who stabbed her first husband in the heart? Why didn’t she reclaim her disabled daughter after the governor granted her a pardon? Why does she leave her second daughter with the husband she deserts? Does she really love Adam, who says he’s passing through the town where she happens to land after leaving daughter and husband? How can Adam, a PI who knows about her past, really love her? Does he trust her? As a writer, I might quibble on one point wrapped into the ending. As a reader, I don’t care to quibble because Lippman kept me mesmerized.
Delicious, devilish noir at its finest. No one can be trusted in this moody, twisty mystery from the talented Lippman, and she takes the hairpin curves of the plot with flair and a sure hand at the wheel. Go for the ride. You won’t regret it.
Loved it!
Laura Lippman, whose novels have won numerous crime-fiction prizes, calls “Sunburn” her first venture into noir, in part inspired by her admiration for James M. Cain’s classic “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” The heroine of the novel is Polly Costello, whose choices in life have taken her down quite a “crooked” path. She was abused by husband number one and later married husband number two after a brief encounter (as in she became pregnant). Polly thinks she can ditch her past when she meets handsome Adam Bosk, but does Adam have some secrets of his own that he is hiding from Polly as well? Throw in a sleazy insurance broker and you’ve got yourself quite a tale! Lippman takes her readers on an up and down ride as the story unfolds. The suspense builds with every chapter. Can you follow the clues to the end results?. Read “Sunburn” for yourself to find out.
Favorite Quotes:
Men have always done things for her… It is a special art, asking people to do things, yet making it seem as if you never asked at all… but it’s the skill she was given, the hand she has to play.
Cath couldn’t find her way out of a room with no walls.
In her black dress, black gloves, and retro heels, she looks like Joan Crawford or Bette Davis. She feels like them too. Tough, yet brittle. That’s the thing about being really hard. When you do break, you shatter.
My Review:
I was immediately sucked into the powerful vortex of this enthralling and cleverly paced tale. Written from the third person omniscient point of view, the storylines were fully textured, multi-layered, and ingeniously crafted. The characters were all hues of shady and mysterious while endlessly fascinating and alluring. But Ms. Lippman’s superlative writing tops all other elements as it was first class and kept me riveted and resentful of interruption. I despised the need for sleep and begrudgingly put my book down only when necessary. This author is a recent discovery for me and I am greedy to amass and hoard all of her mesmerizing arrangements of words.
Some far fetched happenings, overall good book
I gobble up her books. Original and well done.
Another great book from a really good author.
I’m a huge fan of Laura Lippman. This novel was so-so. I will continue to read everything she authors.
A noir to top all neo-noirs. Lippman writes atmospherically with a literary voice while towing you along in the nitty-gritty. If I could write like anyone, I would write like her.
Hella good book!
“She wonders if he is as exhausted by all the lying as she is.”
― Laura Lippman
Though inspired by James M. Cain’s classic noir novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, the enigmatic character of Polly Costello is uniquely Lippman’s own creation. This is a difficult novel to discuss because the entire plot contains spoilers. Suffice it to say, that early on the reader realizes that Polly is a woman with a troubled past, who may or may not have murdered her husband, though there’s no doubt he beat her, which might explain why she stuck a knife in his chest while he slept.
The novel sizzles from page one when Polly meets handsome stranger Adam in a bar in Delaware. Polly is obviously on the run from it’s unclear who or what is chasing her. Sparks fly between Polly and Adam, but there is something else as work in this relationship. The real fun for the reader is trying to figure out what these two people are up to—because they are definitely up to something.
The ending came as a total surprise and was eminently satisfying, in a dark sort of way.
Somewhere James Cain must be smiling.
I received this copy from Harper Collins publishers i was surprised but blessed, she was a new Author to me but after this read it most definitely wont be the last one. She was made to write she grips you from page one right to the end and a must read for all those who love suspense, intriguing mysteries. Absolutely loved it.
BOOK REVIEW.
Good thing I put my sunscreen on before I sat down to finish Sunburn by @lauramlippman!!!! Sunburn is a slow burn.. the storyline kept building up and adding layer after layer to peel- I’m still trying to figure out if I like Adam and Polly or if I just loved hating them- I definitely could read this again and see a whole other side of this story! It was an excellent novel! Thank you @williammorrowbooks for inviting me to be a part of the discussion and Scene of The Crime reading group! I’m looking forward to reading another Laura Lippman -By a Spider’s Thread – that’s been gracing my bookshelf this summer!!