The Night Bus - Softcover

Law, Janice

3.24

29 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312875991 ISBN 13: 9780312875992

Publisher: Forge Books, 2001

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A few months ago, Cath Tolland ran away from her life. Boarding a night bus with no credit cards or identification, using the last of her meager cash to buy a one-way ticket to Florida, Cath left behind her home, her friends, and a seemingly happy marriage--for reasons that not even she can remember.

But now Cath is back home in Connecticut, in the arms of her loving, if distant, husband Derek-and watched over, perhaps a bit too closely, by her critical sister-in-law, Yvonne. Told that her mysterious disappearance was merely another symptom of ongoing mental problems, Cath tries her hardest to piece together her fragmented memories and make sense of her sudden flight.

But why, if she has always suffered from mental problems, can, Cath remember ever speaking with a therapist? Why, if she and Derek have always had a happy marriage, is Cath beginning to remember evidence of "other women"? And-most terrifying-why does Cath feel that she should fear her husband? How much can Cath trust the vague terror that fills her memories now-the terror that may have bought her a seat on a night bus to Florida?

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From Kirkus Reviews:

We first meet Cath Tolland as an anonymous passenger on the night bus to Florida, traveling in a deep personal fog that eventually lands her in a hospital emergency room. Once she's identified there, her sister-in-law Yvonne arrives from Connecticut to restore her to her husband Derek, the musician-minister she had stabbed before amnesia and flight took over. As her recovery commences at home, Cath gradually becomes aware of many things: the old house with the garden she loves, left to her by her Aunt Elizabeth; the sacred music she used to sing with Derek's church choir; her near certainty of her husband's infidelity; the tragic deaths of two young women connected to him. She visits her lawyer Luc Beausoleil to find that Aunt Elizabeth's legacy has multiplied, making her rich. Through Luc, she hires a detective agency to look further into the deaths that so disquiet her. In time, however, relations with Derek improve to the point of their spending a few days together at Derek's cabin in the woods. It's here, in this bucolic but isolated setting, that Cath faces a struggle for her life, and here that all her questions are finally answered. Law (Cross-Check, 1997, etc.) powerfully evokes Cath's uneasiness and rising tension, all in a narrative style sometimes verging on the poetic but always suspenseful. A superior performance, inarguably the author's best to date. -- Copyright � 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Cath Tolland wakes up in a hospital in Florida and has no memory of what led her there. Standing over her is a woman of whom she is vaguely fearful, and memories slowly come back to her. She returns with the woman, Yvonne, who is her sister-in-law, to Connecticut, Derek (her husband), and an isolated life of starting over. Yet her memories return as feelings, and there is an air of uneasiness about the entire household. As Cath regains her strength and memory, terrifying questions emerge: Why does she fear her husband? Why does Yvonne live with the two of them? The answers to these and other questions are disappointingly obvious. The story unfolds as expected, the suspense is momentary, yet Cath's rediscovery of herself and her inner monologues keep the story afloat. Ellie Barta-Moran
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

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