I recently read Lisa Unger's book Black Out, and was a bit disappointed.  Still, I vowed to give the author another try.  Thus I've just read Die For You and I have to say that it was much better than the previous novel, but still not great.
 
Isabel Raine has it all - a happy marriage, promising career.  She kisses her husband Marcus as he leaves for work one morning, not knowing that he won't be coming back.  Marcus never makes it to work, and he never makes it home.  Isabel is frantic, searching for answers.  But soon the police are questioning her about Marcus.  But not her husband - no - they're asking her about the real Marcus. It seems that Isabel's husband of five years was not who he claimed to be.  Suddenly faced with the knowledge that her entire marriage was one lie on top of another, Isabel sets out to find the answer to the only question she really cares about: Why?
 
Sounds interesting enough, doesn't it?  I like stories like this - they're usually intriguing, leaving me wanting to know everything about the situation.  Why a man would take another's identity.  And why he would suddenly leave the life he created for himself.  Or, perhaps he didn't voluntarily leave it, perhaps there are other forces pulling the strings.  Especially as, in this case, clues start coming in to a story far bigger than what Isabel can imagine, and as bodies start piling up, I was sure I was in for a fascinating journey.
 
So what happened?
 
Well, it's hard to care about our protagonist when she's dumb as dirt.  I'm sorry to say it so bluntly, but that really is the case here.  Isabel is like the dumb characters you see in B-grade horror films - the ones that insist on going through the door when everyone in the audience is yelling for them to run the other way.  Isabel ignores all of the good advice she's given by her trusted family, friends, and the authorities, insisting on running her own investigation, her way.  Even when people close to her start dying in her wake, Isabel won't be stopped.  Even when it's obvious that unknown forces would rather see her dead, than have her know the truth.  Even then, she forges ahead, making one really stupid decision after another.
 
Did I mention that the character of Isabel is a novelist?  You'll know this fact if you read the book because it will be mentioned.  Over and over again.  It seems that whenever Isabel makes yet another dumb decision, Ms. Unger reminds us that Isabel has a writer's mind, and that this, somehow, justifies the insane behavior on her part.  That a writer simply "has" to know all of the details, at any cost.  It was annoying to be told something repeatedly, especially as it's used to justify stupidity.
 
The book also suffers from a few too many subplots.  Yes, the childhood trauma suffered by Isabel and her sister Linda was important to understand their personalities.  And the difficulties between Linda and her husband, while not germane to the main story, was at least interesting.  But the marital troubles endured by the main detective on the case... that was completely unnecessary. 
 
The author jumps in time and point of view a lot.  Sometimes within the same chapter.  You'll start out in one place, and all a sudden you're someplace else, seeing what a different character is seeing.  It can be a bit confusing at times, because she doesn't always make it clear from the start, where/when/who we are at the moment.
 
Still, the story was interesting, and I definitely wanted to know how it would end.  Mostly, I wanted to know the forces that occurred long before the start of the book - the forces that drove Marcus to do the things he did.  Ms. Unger handled this portion of the story quite well, helping us to understand what would make a man do what he did. 
 
This book is "ok".  I would give it a try if you come across it in your library.  But I wouldn't rush out to buy it. 


Black Out

Fragile

Recommended: No