Still Life by Joy Fielding

Title: Still Life
Author: Joy Fielding
ISBN-10: 1416585273
Pages: 369
Year Published: 2009
Genre: Mystery
Date Finished: April 12

From the dust jacket: Beautiful, happily married, and the onwer of a successful interior design business, Casey Marshall couldn't be more content with her life, until a car slams into her at almost fifty miles an hour, breaking nearly every bone in her body and plunging her into a coma. Lying in her hospital bed, Casey realizes that although she is unable to see or communicate, she can hear everything. She quickly discovers that he friends aren't necessarily the people she hought them to be—and that her accident might not have been an accident at all. As she struggles to break free from her living death, she begins to wonder if what lies ahead could be even worse.

My thoughts: After reading the first few pages, I was immediately hooked. The story begins with Casey eating lunch with her two best friends and the first chapter ends with the hit and run accident. When Casey "wakes" up in her hospital bed and learns she's in a coma, it began to get uncomfortable for me to continue reading. To her family, friends and the hospital staff, Casey was in a coma and her prognosis was grim. For Casey, however, she was trapped inside a body that did not respond, but yet her mind was fully alert. This was really hard for me to read. I began to imagine what it must be like to feel trapped in my own body. The author did a great job with portraying Casey's frustration, anxiety, fear and thoughts of her own mortality.

Soon we realize her accident was indeed intentional. The killer's identity is revealed early, however as Casey's condition continues to improve, the killer must strike again before she gains consciousness. The killer's identity doesn't come as a surprise, but the reader does learn more about his/her past.