Has Anyone Read "U is for Undertow" ?

[christiane]

I finished reading this book last week and there is a part of the plot I feel wasn't explained at the end.

So I would like to ask a question for anyone else who read the book.

Note: The question & any answers will contain spoilers!

Thanks!
Christiane.

 

[minniecarousel]

Yeah, I read it. Something bothered me too, when I finished it, but I can't remember what it was(!)

Ask away.

 

[christiane]

Hi Julie,

Something I feel that wasn't explained in the end was the timeline.

Michael's memory of the "pirates" indicated that the burial took place on his birthday (July 21st).

Diana discredited Michael's birthday memory with the Disneyland scrapbook. It was also determined that the babysitter, Mrs. Kirkendall had fled about a week earlier with her embezzling husband.

So, with the girl being kidnapped on July 19th, when did he see the "pirates" if it wasn't his birthday? And what were they burying that they swapped out for the dog if it wasn't the child? Was it the marked money that was later found under the water heater?

I really just read Grafton's books for fun & don't worry about minor plot inconsistencies, but for some reason this bothered me at the end. I thought it would be explained in the epilogue but wasn't.

Just wondering what others thought, so thanks!

Christiane.

 

[MNFootballMommy]

I agree--the issue wasn't addressed and that was a HUGE plot point in discrediting the brother, so it SHOULD have been addressed. I really enjoyed the book, but I kept looking through the last few pages again to see if I had missed that being explained. It just isn't.

 

[kt_mom]

That has been bugging me too since I read it. I thought maybe I just missed something. It seemed such a large point to leave unexplained.

 

[christiane]

Thanks for the replies, MNFOOTBALLMOMMY & kt mom.

It's good to know I'm not the only one who thought things were left unanswered. There were a few other things that didn't make sense which didn't bother me much. Otherwise, I did enjoy the book.

 

[erincon23]

Yeah, that all bothered me too. Did that incident actually happen? Usually Grafton doesn't leave such big questions laying around -- she's had some inconsistencies in the past, but nothing so big. Shortly before "U" came out, I reread all the books, since I had read them over a number of years, and everything pretty much made sense (except what happened between her and the cop? They were doing pretty well at the end of T, I thought).

OT, have you read Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper series? I just started that, and I'm really enjoying it.

Erin

 

[Briarmom]

You know, I thought they explained it away by saying that he'd celebrated his birthday before Disneyland...but maybe that was just a theory someone proposed?

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Yeah it did end with a few questions. This book was different than the previous books. I still enjoy her and will be sad when it is over.

A side note on this series, I have never "read" one of the books. I listen to them on CD. The lady that reads her IS Kinsey Milhone to me. I tried reading one and just could not do it.

Debbie

 

[bumbershoot]

Interesting. I just flat out did not like this book, and I normally LOVE Grafton. I almost wrote her a letter at how disturbing I felt some of her scenes and "treatment" of a character was.

So by the end I was just skimming...interesting to see that I might not have missed explanations, but that it just wasn't well-finished.

 

[minniecarousel]

Hi Julie,

Something I feel that wasn't explained in the end was the timeline.

Michael's memory of the "pirates" indicated that the burial took place on his birthday (July 21st).

Diana discredited Michael's birthday memory with the Disneyland scrapbook. It was also determined that the babysitter, Mrs. Kirkendall had fled about a week earlier with her embezzling husband.

So, with the girl being kidnapped on July 19th, when did he see the "pirates" if it wasn't his birthday? And what were they burying that they swapped out for the dog if it wasn't the child? Was it the marked money that was later found under the water heater?

I really just read Grafton's books for fun & don't worry about minor plot inconsistencies, but for some reason this bothered me at the end. I thought it would be explained in the epilogue but wasn't.

Just wondering what others thought, so thanks!

Christiane.

THAT's what it was! Michael's sister & brother were so eager to discredit him that they pointed to the "faulty" timeline and I felt it wasn't properly explained in the end. This wasn't my favorite of her books, but I'm glad I read it.

 

[yoopermom]

I'm giving this a little bump, because I just finished it last night, and was confused, too.

Here's the link for a good discussion over at amazon about possible answers:
http://www.amazon.com/U-Is-For-Unde...oding=UTF8&asin=B002DW92UC&store=digital-text

I just enjoy that she still has them set in the 80s, so can't use technology as a "crutch". Hard to believe we all survived without cell phones/internet/etc!

Not my favorite of hers, a shame...

Terri