This is quite a moving, unsettling story as depicted by its creepy cover. Pat Carroll had to learn to deal with considerable grief as his ten-year-old daughter, Shannon, became infected with rabies after a bite from a bat. She ended up hospitalized for over a month and remained in a medically induced coma. Sadly, doctors could not do enough to save her life and she died - she was just a young girl.
Carroll felt her mother did not do enough for Shannon and it is clear to see from reading this, he has still considerable anger left inside him. To go through losing a daughter who was so young, must be a terrible thing. One can only imagine what it must feel like.
Mr Carroll met Jeannine McGraw in 1983, he was still incredibly young himself and had just divorced after a childless marriage. He remembers her as being “beautiful, full of life and laughter.”
Within a matter of weeks she had moved in with him and six months later she was pregnant. As Carroll had come from a family of Irish immigrants, the right thing to do in a time like this was to propose. They were married on St Patrick’s Day.
While Carroll was excited at the thought of becoming a father, he secretly hoped that his first child would be a boy. When the baby was born Carroll was “on top of the world” - it was indeed a boy.
Subsequently, life was to become difficult - Jeannine lost her father and then slipped into deep depression. One evening things seemingly got too much for her and Carroll came home from work to find his wife had overdosed on ibuprofen. Luckily she survived but despite having responsibly (their now six children) Jeannine had an affair with Sam, the handy man.
Things gradually get worse and they later separated. The children were left in the “capable” hands of Jeannine but you have to question this woman’s responsibility as a parent. Why didn’t she do more when she found out her daughter had been bitten and get help sooner? Was she just totally neglectful?
Carroll still feels anger and you can certainly sense this throughout this book. He dedicates it to the memory of his daughter: “I love you my sweetheart. I miss you so much,” he writes: “Until we meet again”…
He presents to the reader his version of events and proves that fathers sometimes do know best.
I found the title for this novel so fitting - it represents just what type of a mother was Jeannine.
A book to have in your collection if you’re considering custody or have been through a similar thing. Tear-jerking.
The above review was contributed by:Jessica Roberts:Jessica is a book reviewer for a local newspaper and has reviewed for a national women's magazine too. She has had various articles published in magazines and has now completed her novel. Jessica currently lives in West Yorkshire and enjoys walking in the dales and woodlands as part of her hobby as well as, of course, reviewing books. To read more of Jessica's reviews CLICK HERE
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