Sara Miller, No Simple Thing

No Simple Thing

Sara Miller

Unlimited Publishing, 2005, $15.95, 287 pp.

ISBN: 1588321142

In Manhattan, Kate Van Horn has a successful career and enjoys the life of a single woman. However, when she meets divorcee Alec Callahan she surprises herself by falling in love with the kind man. He reciprocates though he was not looking for anyone after the debacle of his marriage.

Kate and Alec decide to marry, but his ex-wife Cheryl goes berserk, warning the newcomer that her life will be miserable and that she blames the breakup of her marriage on her; the fact that Kate and Alec did not know each other is irrelevant to the obsessed, crazed ex. While he is out of town on business, an out of control Cheryl visits Kate at her office with her young daughter Jessica in tow. Spouting profanities at Kate, the future second wife takes Jessica to stay with her assistant so that she can try to calm down Cheryl. When she returns Cheryl is gone having dumped the kid on a stunned Kate. As she ponders between eternal love and a lifetime with the "perils of Cheryl," Kate wonders what happened to her cozy life.

This fascinating, contemporary tale will grip the audience not so much for how much Kate is willing to endure, but instead how far Cheryl will take her obsessive hatred that her child is an expendable pawn. The storyline will remind the audience of Fatal Attraction though the cause is different. Sara Miller is an author to keep an eye on if this complex, character-driven plot that is NO SIMPLE THING is any indication.

Harriet Klausner