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Readers will expect a lot from a book titled The Abortionist's Daughter, and author Elisabeth Hyde offers enough sensationalism to justify the provocative title.
Hyde's fourth novel unravels the mystery surrounding the murder of Diana Duprey, an outspoken abortion provider in a small Colorado town.
Duprey is found dead in her lap pool, and police question whether it was an accident after a nasty bruise is discovered on her head.
The Abortionist's Daughter is as much the story of several families driven to the edge of disintegration by loss and conflicting values as it is a crime novel.
Though Hyde does a terrific job fleshing out her characters and dissecting all their problems, they are, on the whole, self-centered and unlikable. But it is their weaknesses that make them so lifelike.
The murder suspects begin with the obvious -- hard-core anti-abortion activists in general and the Rev. Stephen O'Connell, founder of the Lifeblood Coalition, specifically.
There are also hints that Duprey's husband, Frank, an attorney in the local D.A.'s office, had motives: He and Diana had a knock-down, drag-out fight the day of her death. Her daughter, Megan, also fought with her that day. Her last comment to her mother: "Have fun killing babies."
Meanwhile, Megan, a college freshman, is being stalked by a former boyfriend, Bill, who is so angry and depressed that he may have posted nude photos of Megan on the Internet. The problems Bill creates for the Duprey family are inextricably linked to Diana's murder.
The novel takes on a powerful momentum when Hyde gets inside the head of Duprey, a highly complicated woman whose emotions are nearly as clinical as the abortions she performs almost every day.
Readers should be warned that Hyde vividly describes abortions as Duprey performs them and explicitly details the aftermath. Hyde does not portray Duprey as a monster, but rather as a committed doctor. Duprey herself decided not to abort her son when it was discovered that he had Down syndrome.
Like any satisfying story that takes place in a small town, The Abortionist's Daughter reveals dirty secrets about many of the townsfolk. Their inner lives are far from pretty, but the people who live in this Colorado town could very well be your neighbors.
The Abortionist's Daughter
By Elisabeth Hyde
Knopf, $23.95, 285 pp.
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