Jennifer Malone is a hard-working, investigative journalist,
looking for her next big story. Abandoned is the second book in the Jennifer
Malone Mystery series by author John Schlarbaum, but it can be read as a standalone novel. This is
actually the first Jennifer Malone Mystery I have read and I didn’t feel as
though I needed any more background information than what the author gave in
this book.
In Abandoned, we are introduced to an elderly patient, Helga
Klemens, as she is about to undergo emergency hip surgery. Just before she is
wheeled in, she says “Don’t let them kill me,” to a hospital porter named Luke.
It is Luke’s job to assure her that everything will be fine as he sees a lot of
people frightened before surgery. Unbeknownst to Luke, those were her last
words.
That afternoon we meet Jennifer Malone, a newspaper reporter
who happens upon the hospital morgue while digging into a John Doe case. After
speaking with the coroner, Jennifer and Luke cross paths, along with Luke’s
girlfriend, Maryanne who works as a security guard at the hospital. Both Luke
and Maryanne find Helga’s death shocking though they can’t quite figure out
why.
The rest of the story takes place over the course of five
days in which Jennifer delves deep into the investigation in order to figure
out what happened in the operating room. Then another John Doe washes ashore. Jennifer
strives to get to the bottom of it and wonders if these deaths are related or
if there is a killer out there.
Throughout this novel, we meet many extraordinary characters.
They are introduced in an order that helps all of the clues fall into place at
exactly the right time. Even though many of the characters are secondary and
aren’t overly represented throughout the whole novel, I still found that I had
a great sense of who they are as a person from the descriptions and language
Schlarbaum uses. Every character had their own unique personality and voice.
Abandoned is written from may varying points of view.
Sometime switching perspectives in the middle of a chapter. In this sense, I
found that it was written as though you are watching a television show as the
thoughts aren’t only one-sided in the scenes. You get everyone’s perspective so
you have all of the information, thoughts and feelings moving forward
throughout the book.
It’s extraordinary how intricate and inexplicably woven our
lives can be with those around us. This novel shows us that even people we don’t
know can have an immense impact on our lives. All of the characters intertwine
with each other and everything comes together perfectly in the end.
Schlarbaum uses just the right amount of descriptives in
order for the reader to easily envision the story unfolding. The book is fast
paced, keeping you turning page after page because you just need to know what
happened. Abandoned is a great mystery novel, full of twists and turns.
