The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne

Cat,
He isn’t who you think he is.
Mom xxxooo

When Cat returns home after a 10 year absence because of her mother’s suicide, this is the note she finds.  There are several possible ‘he’s’ in Cat’s life that this note could refer to, so we are kept guessing until near the end who her mother means.  As she stays for her mother’s funeral, several ghosts from her past come back to haunt her.  Domestic violence and alcoholism are prominent themes in the book.

I didn’t really care for this one.  There seemed to me to be some plot holes in the story, or at least some unexplained events. For instance, Cat had an extremely happy childhood until age 5 or 6, but we are never told why at age 7 everything changed.  She remembers her parents as loving before that time, but definitely not afterwards.  Also, I had a hard time believing that the older Jared was so beloved by both of Cat’s parents.  The circumstances between he and the rest of the family didn’t seem to warrant this.  I just didn’t understand it.  I also wanted to feel more sorry for Cat than I did, and normally I would for a character that has suffered such tragic events.  I wonder if I would have felt more sympathy for Cat if the book had been written in 3rd person instead of 1st.  Her voice seemed to ‘tell and not ‘show’ throughout the book.  Third person narration may have been able to correct this.  For instance, although I know alcoholism was one of the themes of the book, it just got irritating to hear something to the effect of ”I need a drink’ on every other page when 3rd person narration could have shown her alcoholic side a little better.  These are just my own thoughts, though. Several people on librarything and Amazon have loved the book, so be sure to check out their reviews for a balanced opinion.

2009, 225 pp.

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