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The Last Bridge

The Last Bridge, August 2009
by Teri Coyne

Ballantine
240 pages
ISBN: 0345507312
EAN: 9780345507310
Hardcover
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"A dark, tense novel about what one woman will do to escape her past."

Fresh Fiction Review

The Last Bridge
Teri Coyne

Reviewed by Viki Ferrell
Posted July 13, 2009

Women's Fiction Contemporary

How and when do we know who we really are? Alex Rucker has searched all her life for this answer and still isn't sure. She is returning to Wilton, Ohio, for her mother's funeral after being away for 10 years. Her mother committed suicide right after her father had a massive stroke, and he is now in a coma. Alex's mom leaves a note for her simply stating: "Cat, he isn't who you think he is. Love, Mom." She is puzzled at who the "he" in this note might be.

Returning to Wilton dredges up memories for Alex of an abusive father, a mother who turned her head, a family who pretended it wasn't all that bad and the house from which she escaped all that time ago. Ashamed of her past, Alex thinks of how lonely she was growing up and still is today. She now depends heavily on the bottle to drown the memory of the tragedies of the past from which she is still running

Addison Watkins steps back into Alex's life and brings back a flood of both harsh and intimate memories, memories she has spent the past 10 years trying to suppress. Reconnecting with her brother and sister also causes old hurts and fears to rise again, and Alex feels the need to run once more. However, there are secrets she discovers on this return trip that tug at her heart to stay this time, secrets that may answer the question of who the "he" is in her mom's suicide note. Will Alex learn that we are not just a product of the worst of our relatives, but also the best of them?

Teri Coyne's debut novel, THE LAST BRIDGE, will tug at your heart with the turn of every page. She has masterfully woven a story of hopelessness, suspense and love. You will not be able to put this one down.

Learn more about The Last Bridge

SUMMARY

For ten years, Alexandra “Cat” Rucker has been on the run from her past. With an endless supply of bourbon and a series of meaningless jobs, Cat is struggling to forget her Ohio hometown and the rural farmhouse she once called home. But a sudden call from an old neighbor forces Cat to return to the home and family she never intended to see again. It seems that Cat’s mother is dead.

What Cat finds at the old farmhouse is disturbing and confusing: a suicide note, written on lilac stationery and neatly sealed in a ziplock bag, that reads: Cat, He isn’t who you think he is. Mom xxxooo

One note, ten words– one for every year she has been gone–completely turns Cat’s world upside down. Seeking to unravel the mystery of her mother’s death, Cat must confront her past to discover who “he” might be: her tyrannical, abusive father, now in a coma after suffering a stroke? Her brother, Jared, named after her mother’s true love (who is also her father’s best friend)? The town coroner, Andrew Reilly, who seems to have known Cat’s mother long before she landed on a slab in his morgue? Or Addison Watkins, Cat’s first and only love?

The closer Cat gets to the truth, the harder it is for her to repress the memory and the impact of the events that sent her away so many years ago.

Taut, gripping, and edgy, The Last Bridge is an intense novel of family secrets, darkest impulses, and deep-seated love. Teri Coyne has created a stunning tapestry of pain and passion where past and present are seamlessly interwoven to tell a story that sears and warms in equal measure.


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