Review: The Bullet by Mary Louise Kelly

The Bullet by Mary Louise Kelly
Published by Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster on March 17, 2015
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher

Caroline Cashion, a professor of French literature, has been experiencing pain and weakness in her wrist. Frustrated, she seeks medical advice in the hopes of a treatment. What her doctors find, however, a truly shocking: a bullet, lodged in her neck.  In her late 30s, Caroline has no memory of being shot. Certainly this is the sort of injury she would have remembered.

When she shares the news with her parents they are not shocked, instead obviously avoid her probing eyes. Within a matter of minutes, Caroline learns that everything she knows about her life was a lie. She was adopted at the age of three. Worse, her parents were brutally murdered, she is the only surviving witness. The Cashions, the couple she believed to be her parents, wanted to push all memories of that incident behind them. They were aware the bullet still existed, lodged perilously close to her spine. Informed it would do more harm to attempt to remove it, they opted to let it remain. Little did they know it would serve as the impetus to Caroline's obsessive need to know more about the death of her birth parents.

Caroline returns to her city of birth: Atlanta. There, she learns that the bullet is the only evidence that may lead to the identity of her parents' killer.  Not only that, but the bullet that resides within her body was the very one to kill her mother. Had it not been for her mother's desperate attempt to shield her daughter, Caroline could have been a third victim to this brutal crime.

Media attention announcing that she is still alive puts Caroline's life in jeopardy.  The police never caught her parents' killer and the bullet that resides in her body is the only evidence that may bring him/her to justice.  Caroline begins a race to find the identity of this brutal killer before she herself becomes the next victim.

One of the members of my book club told me about this title just a few weeks ago. I was sold when I heard the premise. Imagine finding out that you have a bullet lodged in your body…and that everything you knew about your life was a lie. From page one, I was captivated.  Completely thrilling, I became instantly invested in Caroline’s quest for answers. Everything she knew about her life was a lie; she’s forced to question everything. This isn’t a search just for an answers, but to her own identity. As a professor of literature, she previously spent her days curled up with a book in the library. Now, she’s brazen and bold, going on a quest that puts her very life in danger. It was rewarding to watch Caroline embark upon this journey of self-discovery, one in which she learns she is more dependent and strong than she would have ever imagined.

The author, a former NPR correspondence. deftly uses her investigative and reporting skills to craft this truly dynamic thriller. She reveals details and secrets slowly and methodically, allowing the tension to build gradually throughout the novel. Multiple story-lines weave in and out of the novel, finally winding together expertly.

While there were some aspects of this novel that seemed a little implausible, this sort of behavior is forgivable in fiction.  The end result, a well-crafted piece of thriller fiction, was worth it in the end.  Highly recommended.