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Blood Orange


by Drusilla Campbell

List Price: $8.00
Price: $11.90
You Save: $-3.90 (-49%)
Available: Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank: 185844
Studio: Kensington
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: July 01, 2005
Publisher: Kensington


CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 15 reviews)

Narcissistic Survivors  
Excellent writing with great word choices and phrases by Ms. Campbell. There were plenty of plots and sub-plots, although I was a bit disappointed because I figured out "whodunit" too easily (maybe I just got lucky).

I thought two of the main characters (Dana and Lexy) were overly self-involved, and that became weary early into the book. Dana's daughter, Bailey, is a special needs child, and, although it's clear Dana is a loving and devoted mother, throughout the book I felt as though she was ashamed of Bailey and/or that she was too filled with self-doubts and her own "history" to get past herself and move ahead the way mothers do when faced with their child's requirements. It's good both women found their way in the end...

As a writer, I liked Campbell's writing style very much but didn't like the two main female characters, and feel they were people I wouldn't like to know in real life. The men were well portrayed. Pork Chops and Applesauce: A Collection of Recipes and Reflections
June 17, 2008

Pulpy Orange  
Dana Cabot is transformed from a happy wife and mother of a cognitively delayed child to a bitter woman the day her daughter Bailey, 7 is kidnapped. Prior to the girl's kidnapping, their weirdly named dog Moby Doby is hit by a van and threatening letters start arriving. The first question is who nearly hit the dog and who is sending out these sick missives?

According to Dana, Bailey is NOT autistic. One would have to concur as the girl's behavior does not support that diagnosis. Bailey, marginally verbal was described as stringing together random rhyming words; deliberately "sprinkling and spilling" powders; "airplaning" from room to room and having a mercurial temperament. She sounds as if she is cognitively delayed. A student at a local special school in San Diego, Bailey appears to be perfectly happy with the world as she knows it.

On a sunny May 29 in the early part of the 21st century, the Cabots' world changes. Bailey is kidnapped and a local task force is working diligently to find her. When she is returned home some 3 months later, she becomes mute and withdrawn. The hyperactive "airplaning" becomes a thing of the past and threatening notes appear literally in Dana's path.

The list of suspects is quite long. Bailey obviously knew her kidnapper as whoever took her taught her to bodysurf. After a lifetime fear of water, she becomes quite comfortable in it and can even swim. The question is who the kidnapper is. The list of suspects is the grandson of a neighbor who worked tirelessly to find her; a priest who happens to be Dana's best friend; a weird woman whose husband is on trial for child molestation and murder who is ensconsed in the Cabot house as David Cabot is representing the husband; a lover Dana had when she spent a vacation in Italy. Who, if any of these people had any part in Bailey's kidnapping? What happened during her 3-month absence?

Although I thought this was a well written, riveting read, there were parts that bothered me. I could not see why the Cabots would lodge the wife of a child molester/murderer suspect; the woman was cruel and one could only fear for the safety of her unborn child. A question in the mind of readers was if this woman could have had any part in Bailey's kidnapping. The real question is why any parent allow someone like that into their home. One could only fear for Bailey as well. The ugly and sordid nature of the alleged abuser David Cabot is defending and the accused man's wife provides an effective contrast to the idyllic descriptions of the flora in San Diego.

All in all, a good read. This is a good companion book to A Road Through the Mountains
April 08, 2008

Horrible  
This book had so many different plot lines. I would start to get excited about one plot and then it would switch to something else. There were no surprises, everything was very predictable, and the end was so anti-climactic!!!! Hated it!!
December 23, 2007

Starts well but becomes too implausible  
BLOOD ORANGE has several intriguing story lines that never really convince the reader due to the unlikely choices the major characters make and several implausible coincidences. The central couple, David and Dana, do not seem like a realistic husband and wife. David is a former professional quarterback who is now a work obsessed defense attorney taking on the cases of repulsive criminals in order to provide for his wimpy wife and special needs daughter. Yet after his daughter is kidnapped and gone for several months and returned he inexplicably decides the "strange" wife of an obviously guilty child murderer should move in to their garage apartment. Dana is anxious and guilt ridden because of childhood trauma but when her husband sends her to Italy for a week to study art she immediately begins an affair with a troubled artist and has so much fun she never bothers to return the phone calls of her husband and daughter. There are more unbelievable plot twists and coincidences but I'll stop before giving anything else away. Campbell is a gifted word smith but plot and character development deficiencies keep BLOOD ORANGE from being the successful combination of legal thriller and intelligent chick lit she seems to have intended.
June 09, 2007

Could Have Been Better  
I found this book to be a bit slow. I didn't percieve it as a page turner and I could have lived without all the footbal analogies. However it was good because it keeps you wanting to know how things will end up. Not Bad
November 25, 2006


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