Run You Down

A Rebekah Roberts Novel

By: Julia Dahl

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Aviva Kagan was a just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a smiling college boy from Florida-and then disappeared. Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from is a NYC tabloid reporter named Rebekah Roberts. And Rebekah isn't sure she wants her mother back in her life.

But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, N.Y. contacts Rebekah about his young wife's mysterious death, she is drawn back into Aviva's world. Pessie Goldin's body was found in her bathtub, and while her parents want to believe it was an accident, her husband is certain she was murdered.

Once she starts poking around, Rebekah encounters a whole society of people who have wandered "off the path" of ultra-Orthodox Judaism-just like her mother. But some went with dark secrets, and rage at the insular community they left behind.

In the sequel to her Edgar Award finalist Invisible City, Julia Dahl has created a taut mystery that is both a window into a secretive culture and an exploration of the demons we inherit.

Not Your Usual Thriller

Slow start that builds to a gripping climax. The world of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community is a fascinating setting. My only critique is about the back-and-forth narration between 2 main characters, which is not to my taste. Even so, it was well done and I understand why Dahl used it: with first-person narration, its the only way to tell 2 stories about people who dont know each other. And in the end, it enriched the book. Can't wait to read the next one.

well written

second book purchased by this author! liked the two stories in one. easy to follow.