SAVING MAX

SAVING MAX by Antoinette van Heugten was read for the Medical Mystery Madness Challenge 2010.

From the back of the book:

Lawyer Danielle Parkman is at her wit's end.  Her son, Max, a whip-smart teen with high-functioning autism, has always been a handful.  But lately he's shutting down, using drugs and lashing out - violently.


Desperate, Danielle brings Max to a top-flight psychiatric facility.  But rather than reassurance, Danielle receives an agonizing diagnosis portraying a severely damaged, dangerous boy - one she's never met.


Then Danielle finds Max unconscious and bloodied at the feet of a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.  Worse, Danielle is arrested as an accessory to the heinous crime.


In a baffling, netherworld of doubt and fear, barred from contacting her son, Danielle clings to the thought of Max's innocence.  But has she, too, lost touch with reality?  Is her baby boy really a killer?


Withe the justice system bearing down on them both, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth - no matter how horrifying.  But only finding the true killer will absolve her from having to choose between her son and her soul.

This was an interesting book, although it seemed a little far-fetched at times.  I felt the time span of some of the happenings was unrealistic.  Max went from being depressed and suicidal to an out-of-control psychotic in such a short period of time.  Perhaps this is possible - I'm not well versed in psychiatric medicine.

The story line kept my interest.  Again, there were instances of time that seemed unreasonable (too much done in too short a period of time), but this really didn't detract from the plot too much.  Plenty of action and lots of very strange and twisted people.

This book was sent to me by the publicist for review.  As this was an advance copy, perhaps some changes were made in the final copy that might correct some of the timing problems.

This was my final book for the Medical Mystery Madness Challenge 2010.  This has always been one of my favorite challenges, and I'm hoping it will be around again next year.