Most Wanted

by Lisa Scottoline

Overview

“Spellbinding. Another tour de force from Scottoline. It drew me in, in a single breath.” –Mary Kubica

DONOR 3319 PROFILE:

TALL. BLONDE. BLUE EYES.

MEDICAL STUDENT.

WANTED FOR MURDER

Christine Nilsson and her husband, Marcus, are desperate for a baby. Unable to conceive, they find themselves facing a difficult choice they had never anticipated. After many appointments with specialists, endless research, and countless conversations, they make the decision to use a donor.

Two months pass, and Christine is happily pregnant. But one day, she is shocked to see a young blond man on the TV being arrested for a series of brutal murders—and the blond man bears an undeniable and uncanny resemblance to her donor.

Delving deeper to uncover the truth, Christine must confront a terrifying reality and face her worst fears. Riveting and fast-paced, with the depth of emotionality that has garnered Lisa Scottoline legions of fans, Most Wanted poses an ethical and moral dilemma: What would you do if the biological father of your unborn child was a killer?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250235596
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/16/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of over thirty novels including Look Again, Lady Killer, Think Twice, Save Me and Everywhere That Mary Went. She also writes a weekly column, “Chick Wit,” with her daughter Francesca Serritella, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The columns have been collected in several volumes, including Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog and My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space. Scottoline has won an Edgar® Award and Cosmopolitan magazine’s “Fun Fearless Fiction” Award, and she served as the president of Mystery Writers of America. She teaches a course on justice and fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. She lives in the Philadelphia area.

Hometown:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

July 1, 1955

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1976; J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1981

Website:

http://www.scottoline.com

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Most Wanted:

"My favorite of Scottoline's novels so far, this twisting tale should be MOST WANTED on your to-read list." – Elin Hilderbrand

"In novel after novel, Lisa Scottoline has proven herself a master of stories that combine familial love — especially that of mothers for their children — with nail-biting stories of spirited everywomen bent on finding the truth. Her new novel, Most Wanted, demonstrates again her skill with this kind of domestic suspense tale." – The Washington Post

“Scottoline’s most inventive plot to date…Most Wanted is Scottoline at her best, once again. You will want to read this novel not only for its plot, but for its warmth and humane appeal. She deals with some serious subject matter but makes it easy to read and impossible not to like.” – Huffington Post

"This is a potboiler of a book, crammed full of agonizing choices confronting appealing, relatable characters. Scottoline has penned more hardboiled tales, but never one as heartfelt and emotionally raw, raising her craft to the level of Judith Guest and Alice Hoffman. Most Wanted is a great thriller and a gut-wrenching foray into visceral angst that is not to be missed." – The Providence Journal

A suburban crime tale told with Scottoline’s penchant for humor and soul-baring characterization." – Booklist

"A page-turner that will satisfy." – Library Journal

"A Connecticut teacher’s long-sought and hard-fought pregnancy turns into a nightmare when Scottoline unleashes one of her irresistible hooks on her." – Kirkus Reviews

“A page-turner filled with unpredictable twists…A must-read book for anyone looking for a thrilling ride from a master storyteller!” – RT Book Reviews (4 ½ stars)

From the Publisher

What if you used a sperm bank to become pregnant, and you discovered that your donor might be a serial killer? After Christine and Marcus Nilsson engage the services of a sperm bank, that’s exactly what happens. Lisa Scottoline takes us on another wild ride, and Julia Whelan’s narration convinces us to hang on. Whelan creates completely credible male and female characters through pitch differences and complex vocal textures. She effectively portrays deep-voiced Marcus, raspy-throated Griff, and the smooth-talking accused murderer, Zach. Whelan’s portrayal of Christine sounds, by turns, terrified and brave. Scottoline deals with issues of ethics, privacy, regulation of the sperm bank industry, and the ways couples can be torn apart by uncertainty. Some of the scientific exposition feels clunky, but Whelan makes the listening worthwhile. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

MAY 2016 - AudioFile

2016-02-17
A Connecticut teacher's long-sought and hard-fought pregnancy turns into a nightmare when Scottoline (Corrupted, 2015, etc.) unleashes one of her irresistible hooks on her. Forced to extreme measures because her dreamy husband, Marcus, is sterile, Christine Nilsson has finally gotten pregnant using sperm from anonymous Donor 3319. At the party the staff at Nutmeg Hill Elementary have thrown to celebrate her departure, she gets a look at a serial killer doing his perp walk on TV, and he's the spitting image of Donor 3319. When the Homestead Bank refuses to confirm or deny the identity of the donor, Christine and Marcus react in dramatically different ways. Marcus is determined to sue Homestead and whomever else is necessary to find out once and for all whether the father of the child he's awaited so long has killed at least three nurses from Virginia to Pennsylvania. Christine persuades her best friend, Lauren Weingarten, to accompany her to West Chester, Pennsylvania, where Zachary Jeffcoat has been incarcerated, to ask him whether he's Donor 3319. But Zachary is considerably shrewder and more manipulative than Christine, and before she knows it, she's helping him instead of vice versa, finding him a raffish lawyer, volunteering to work as an unpaid paralegal to help with his defense, and interviewing the latest victim's neighbors. As usual, the complications aren't quite up to the level of the startling hook, and Christine needs more than a bit of luck to dig up the information she seeks. Along the way, she finds out a good many other things she definitely wasn't looking for. The fairy-tale ending calls for some convenient coincidences and changes of heart, but Scottoline's legion of fans will be too relieved to object.

Kirkus Reviews