Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays: Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten

"He lies motionless in a slurry of blackened blood, his white T-shirt and underwear spattered with crazy, crimson spurts. His legs and arms are curled in fetal position. "
~Page 108

Title: Saving Max
Author: Antoinette van Heugten
ISBN: 978-0778329633
Publisher: Mira Books/2010
Pages: 400

Lawyer Danielle Parkman is a single mother with high-functioning Autistic son. Max, a teenager is very intelligent but lately he has withdrawn into himself by taking drugs and having violent tendencies. As nothing seems to work for him, Danielle decides to take him to Maitland, a well known psychiatric facility. They do some tests on Max telling her that Max needs constant care as he is violent, which can harm himself and others. Danielle doesn't believe it at all and wants him out of the facility but somehow can't take him out.

When she tries to get him out all by herself, she finds him lying in blood, unconscious and a body of another teenager, near him. That boy has been bruttaly stabbed to death. Thinking the worst, she tries to run away with her son and is caught, taken for an accessory for a violent crime. She is arrested and and is prevented from seeing her son.

But Danielle knows that Max can't have killed that other boy even though the circumstances point out towards him. She has to get to the bottom of it and save her son, no matter what. When she does that, she finds irregularities in Maitland, where no one is ready to cooperate with her. Infact she finds that, Max is being given drugs for what he is not. The more she gets into it, more and more skeletons seem to tumble out. She has to know if her son is responsible for the crime and she is prepared to go to any length to find out the truth. If not Max, who is the killer? And why?

Saving Max deals with the dilemma of a mother with a special need child. Dealing with autitism, in a daily basis is not easy. Max is vey intelligent but he is volatile and he can't lead a normal life like others. Danielle is well aware of that and tries to make it as normal she can, for Max. This along with it being a crime fiction, pulled me right into it. I could feel her pain at all times. Max's too. When the truth does come out, it is too horrifying to contemplate....

21 comments:

Jan von Harz said...

Sound like someone is dead, or at least injured. This cover reminds me of Chasing Brooklyn

Midnight Sapphire Books said...

What happened to him??
Interesting teaser.
Agree with Jan von, the cover reminds me to Chasing Brooklyn.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

http://midnightsapphiresbooks.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Oh my, Is he dead? This is a great teaser. Thanks for passing by Bookventures. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Jenny Q said...

Gruesome! I think this book sounds great! Here's my teaser from Dark Lover.

E.J. Stevens said...

Horrifying yet interesting. Great Teaser! My Teaser for Captivate is here.

Happy reading. :)

xx,
E.J.
From the Shadows

Book Soulmates said...

Wowwww!! Is he dead or just hurt?

Here is mine for this week :)

♥Isalys

The Westie Loving Therapist said...

I want to know why the blood is different colors - black and crimson.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Jennifer said...

Wonderful Teaser. I was supposed to be reading this book but it never arrived. Now I really wish it had.

Unknown said...

Great teaser! I want to know how the rest of the story unfolds

fredamans said...

Definitely dark enough for my morbid curiosity! I loved it!

http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2010/06/teaser.html

Beth said...

I wonder what happened?

jlshall said...

This one sounds like something I'd really love! Haven't heard of the book or author before. Thanks for the teaser and review.

Cecelia said...

Wow, this one sounds intense. And that scene in the teaser is pretty crazy. Great choice! I agree with the others, too...cover very reminiscent of Chasing Brooklyn.

Thanks for coming by my blog!

kayerj said...

tragic ending . . . ?

thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

A great teaser! This is one that I've been looking at lately...

Thanks for sharing.

antoinette said...

Hi everyone! My name is Antoinette van Heugten and I wrote Saving Max. I'd like to thank all of you for your comments and the review! I am a first-time author and wanted you to know that the cover you see is only a concept cover. When the publisher discovered that the cover had already been used on another book, they changed it for the final book. You can find it on Amazon.com, but it won't come out until the end of September.
Thanks again!
Antoinette

Novroz said...

Interesting tteaser...it reminds me that I need to read more mistery.

Zia said...

How sad sounding. Sounds like someone is hurt bad or dead.

Jo-Jo said...

Sounds like this guy has a problem.

Staci said...

sounds like a dark story...and an interesting one!

Laya said...

Horror-inducing, but she has a way with words.

Sorry I took so long to comment back; thanks for dropping by my blog!