The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes * Diane Chamberlain

An unsolved murder. A missing child. A lifetime of deception...... those are the first three lines on the back cover of the "The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes". I'd been looking for something to fill the void while I wait for Jodi Piccoult's latest to come out in paperback. What I love about her books is that she writes all of the drama and relationships around a central issue, usually a legal or moral one. I picked this up on impulse at Sam's Club and it turned out to be a reasonable facsimile. I'm with the other reviewers out there who are calling Chamberlain the "Jodi Piccoult of the South". Enough so that I picked up another book today ("Before the Storm").

The basic plot line: teenage girl (CeeCee Wilkes) meets boy. Boy is part of an underground association against the death penalty. Boy asks her to help him kidnap the governor's pregnant wife so that he can negotiate for his sister's life: the sister is on death row for murder. CeeCee reluctantly agrees. While in a remote cabin, the kidnapped wife goes in to labor and hemorrhages to death. CeeCee takes baby on the run. The story comes to a peak 20 years down the road when the boy is found and arrested for the murder of the kidnapped wife.

The central issue of the death penalty was intriguing. The boyfriend tells CeeCee that his sister was raped. Following the rape, she chased down the attacker and killed him. CeeCee uses this to rationalize her decision to participate in the kidnapping scheme to negotiate for the sister's release. She later finds out that the reality of the situation is a little different. Is the motive what really establishes the appropriateness of the penalty or is it only the act?

We've come a long way in technology--the book starts in 1977. CeeCee didn't have access to the world wide web to do a google search for the sister's press clippings. Does her naivity make her less culpable for her role in the kidnapping?

The book was a page turner. I enjoyed the characters. The plot was interesting. I liked it enough to buy another Chamberlain title. That all said, if I had a Piccoult book and a Chamberlain book and could only buy one, I'd pick Piccoult.