Sleeping Beauty

Phillip Margolin

Oct 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

Author Miles Van Meter is on a book tour to promote his sensational bestseller Sleeping Beauty, a true-crime account of a deeply personal subject: the attack by a serial killer that left his twin sister, Casey, in a coma. Tonight the audience waits to hear Miles discuss recent developments in his sister's case -- unaware that pieces of this complex puzzle of violence, unknown even to the author, are about to be revealed.

Six years earlier, life was much simpler for everyone involved, especially seventeen-year-old Ashley Spencer, a popular high school soccer star. Then one night an intruder entered Ashley's home and murdered her father and her best friend. Traumatized and suffering from a crippling sense of survivor guilt, Ashley is ready to give up on both soccer and life until help comes from an unexpected source -- a scholarship to the Oregon Academy, an elite private school, is extended to her by school dean Casey Van Meter. The school quickly becomes a haven for both Ashley and her mother, Terri. As Ashley regains her sense of self through the school's soccer program, Terri joins a writing group for adults led by Joshua Maxfield, a former literary wunderkind who has disappeared from the bestseller lists since his second book was panned by both critics and fans.

Then tragedy strikes again and Ashley has to run for her life, unaware that the key to her survival is in the one book she's afraid to read -- Sleeping Beauty.

With its blend of dizzying plot twists and thrilling suspense, Sleeping Beauty shows Phillip Margolin at the very top of his form.

Ratings and reviews

I picked this book up for 50 cents at a branch library in Santa Cruz. I could not put it down. It's that absorbing and that interesting. But my only complaint is that some of the occurrences are just too far-fetched to be believable. Joshua Maxfield aspires to be a recognized writer. But a person, any person, who has been what he's been through, including prison time as an innocent man, would certainly have developed a more "philosophical" approach to life than the Maxfield we meet at the end of the book. This more mature version of the earlier Maxfield is now an egotistical maniac complaining over the age of his scotch. I don't think so. After all he's been through, he's going to be giving thanks, not griping about trivialities. Then, please answer me this: Would an inept, shallow, no-count like Randy Coleman attempt to murder a high-profile murder witness in a convalescent hospital parking lot? Okay, Randy is inept but he's not insane. But such an action would be the action of an insane person. Murder in a secluded wooded hollow, yes, but in a parking lot with hundreds of cars? And the chances of the victim being watched by law enforcement extremely high? As I said, Randy Coleman proved to be a jerk, but not totally stupid, no matter how greedy he was. But maybe I'm griping about trivialities here. Anyway, I figured out who the real villain was about half way through the book: guess who! It's Phillip Margolin.

Another great read once again but there is always a great twist

True Margolin. This was a page turner in style!

About the author

Phillip Margolin has written nineteen novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including his latest novels Woman with a Gun, Worthy Brown’s Daughter, Sleight of Hand, and the Washington trilogy. Each displays a unique, compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior, which comes from his long background as a criminal defense attorney who has handled thirty murder cases. Winner of the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award, he lives in Portland, Oregon.