Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

James Patterson

The No.1 international bestselling author James Patterson has written a love story that will touch the heart of every reader - a powerful novel about families, and new love.

Katie Wilkinson has found the perfect man at last - but one day he disappears from her life, leaving behind only a diary for her to read.

The diary was written by a new mother, as a keepsake for her baby son. In it she touchingly recounts the initial romance between herself and the child's father, and the unparalleled joy that motherhood has brought her. As Katie reads this moving account, it becomes clear that the lover who has left her is the same man as the husband and father in the diary. She reads on, filled with terror and hope as she struggles to understand what has happened - and whether her new love has a prayer of surviving.

Written with James Patterson's perfect pitch for emotion and suspense, this novel captures beautifully the joys of a new family as it builds to an overwhelming climax. This is an unforgettable love story, at once heartbreaking and full of hope.

Review by Chrissi (010302) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
I bought this week a ago, and just could not get around to reading it, I knew that it was not going to be the kind of Patterson that I would normally expect, and so put off picking it off the shelf. Once started, I do not know why I had not picked it before, but at the same time, it is such a departure from the usual fare, that I was intrigued and was not quite sure what to do with it.

The first person we meet is not Suzanne, it is Katie, who has just found out that she is pregnant, and has just been left by her partner, Matt. She had believed that they were very much in love, and at a special time in their relationship, he tells her that they cannot be together. Katie is devastated, and totally dazed by this revelation, but then she gets a little parcel, and tries to piece it all together, to see whether she and Matt can have a future after all.

The parcel contains a diary, written by Suzanne, for her son, Nicholas. It details who she is, and how she came to be writing the diary for him, and it shows that the father of the baby, the husband of Suzanne, is none other than Katie's missing partner, Matt.

There is a note with the diary when it is delivered, from Matt, saying that he knows that it will be difficult for Katie to read, but that it will explain a lot about him. And it does, as the stories develop, we learn of the relationship between Matt and Suzanne, and the circumstances that lead to her having changed her life to be able to meet Matt and have their baby, Nicholas.

At this point, I am reminded of the quote from As Good As It Gets, when Melvin is asked by a woman, how he writes the female parts so well, and he replies that he thinks of a man and takes away reason and accountability. Well, I think that James Patterson has achieved a similar feat, except that he seems to really like his lady characters, and I would hope that he would not be so scathing in his assessment.

I found the layout to be the way that I have come to expect with a Patterson story, well written and punchy, with short extracts which move the story along quite quickly. That said, though, it treats the characters with a gentleness uncommon in his stories, and you cannot help but be very fond of the ladies and Matt. You know, however, that it will not all be sunshine, because Matt would not have cheated on Suzanne, and therefore something tragic has happened.

There was something really interesting that I had not heard before, about the pressures of modern life, that it is all a juggling act, health, integrity, friends, lovers and work, we all strive so hard to keep our eyes on all of the balls and all of the balls in the air, that when something slips, we do not know which one to let go, and sometimes we chose the wrong ones. The ones that we should not let slip are glass balls, which will break if they hit the ground, the only one you can let slip is work, which is a rubber ball, and which will eventually bounce back. I thought that this was really profound, and it is what I will take away with me from reading this book.
Chrissi (1st March 2002)