This is a review of the second installment of E. V. Anderson’s The Many Lives of Lilith Lane.
At the beginning of the section we have a few brief re-introductions and some minor re-capping; I guess it makes sense if you have a week or a month in between each reading. But in my case it seems a little redundant since I can read them with very little time in between. (It actually made me think of the Baby-Sitters Club books where there was always a re-cap about who the narrator their family and the group, etc. etc. Do you know what I mean? Though BSC was more in-depth than the way this installment was.)
We get an explanation as to why they arrested their suspect, but I don’t really buy it, especially as the story continues and we learn about an alibi; well, one that the person won’t admit to, and may be a bit flimsy anyway. But I still don’t think their suspect is the kidnapper/murderer. I’m starting to draw my own conclusions, but without giving too much away, I think it’s two people working together (I’ll say this: a person around Lilith’s age and an adult). The only motive I could think of for these two, though, is not equal to kidnapping and murdering a 10-year-old girl. Lilith’s clues are pointing to a different person altogether, but I don’t think that person did it. I think it might be a set up/framing, though this person could have motive to hurt Lilith’s family… (though this is a terrible way to do it).
We learn a bit more about some of the characters including Dr. Hammer and his association with Lilith’s family (particularly her father), and about the alternate realities. In the first installment we learned about a car accident that Beth (Lilith’s sister) was in which resulted in the death of her (Beth’s) friend; in this installment we learned more about that friend’s parents. We also learn more about the beauty queen that is mentioned in the Goodreads synopsis and her husband as well the principal.
Though we got to see Lilith jump (literally) into the alternate reality in the first installment, we didn’t get to see that in the second. She meets with Dr. Hammer so we learn more behind the whole concept, but maybe we’ll have to wait until the next episode to see her jump again. I don’t think we’ll get to see more than one alternate reality, but I’ll have to keep reading to find out. It’ll be interesting to see how Lilith plans to use the alternate reality to her advantage. (I know I mentioned that it’s slightly different than her current reality, but one thing that’s the same is that Beth still gets abducted. Whether the result of that is the same as what happens in the current reality or if there will be a different outcome is still unknown).
We also see more of Lilith’s dumb boyfriend and her ex-bff. It looks like the stupid boy is finally out of the picture (he had nothing to offer) and we witnessed a (possible) reconciliation with the ex-bff at Beth’s funeral. Interesting to see how these relationships play out.
The installment ends with another “dun dun dun”, with clues that Lilith finds. But these are the clues I mentioned earlier, that point to the person I think is being framed.
I’m looking forward to reading the next installment tonight!