Single parent Ellen Gleeson is living an adoptive parent's worst nightmare. From the moment she sees a missing child flyer with an age-enhanced photo of an abducted Florida boy that looks exactly like her three year old son, Will, she's been on edge. When Ellen uses the skills she's developed as a reporter to investigate Will's birth mother and discovers that her family didn't know she was pregnant, she becomes uneasy. And when she learns that the lawyer handling the adoption committed suicide three weeks later and the birth mother is recently dead of an overdose, she becomes terrified.

Not sure who to trust or where to turn, and against the advice of her lawyer who warns her that her adoption may be invalid, Ellen heroically decides to uncover the truth, knowing that the truth may cause her to lose her beloved child. And in doing so, she also jeopardizes her job and her fledgling relationship with her boss.

In this departure from her series featuring the Rosato law firm, Lisa Scottoline delivers a standalone thriller that will have readers on the edge of their seats. Ellen is a great character who wants the best for her child whatever the cost to herself. The secondary characters are believable and interesting and Ms. Scottoline does a great job making them all human with flaws (except perhaps for Connie who is unquestionably the World's Best Nanny) .

The pace never lets up and Look Again is full of surprises; unlike many thrillers who send their heroines off snooping on their own, Ellen's decision to go it alone in her investigation makes sense. And if readers see the final twist coming about fifty pages early, it's okay, some may not even notice because they'll be too frantically turning the pages .

Never mind what I said about guarantees in the first paragraph: Look Again is a guaranteed great time, not only for all longtime Scottoline readers but for newcomers who will definitely become fans.

--Dede Anderson