Reviews

Eighty Dollars to Stamford by Lucille Fletcher

reader44ever's review

4.0

I learned about this book from Peter Monn on his BookTube channel, Peter Likes Books, in a video that shared his #Spookathon TBR, I think it was. (I'll check. . . It was. It was his first TBR; he later finalized it.)

I had hoped to read it for the Spookathon Thriller task, and I now wish I had, as this book read like it was a thriller. The book I ended up reading for that task was the Spookathon Group Read: [b:A Stranger in the House|33984056|A Stranger in the House|Shari Lapena|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498910615s/33984056.jpg|53565612] by Shari Lapena. I did not find that book very thrilling at all. Still need to review it, though...)

This book was also a very quick read! At just 151 pages long, I think I read it inside of five hours, even with a few distractions butting into my reading time! :-)

And I really enjoyed this story. About a widower who drives a cab, picks up a mysterious young woman, and finds himself framed for a murder he did not commit, it made for a very thrilling read. The ending totally took me by surprise! I wasn't expecting

the young woman to be the killer!

I have to say, though, that although the ending was believable and worked for the book, it didn't fully satisfy me.

I mean, sure it made sense that

she killed Philip Ferguson because he threatened to expose her as the driver of the car that hit and killed David's wife. And then I guess she shot Ferguson's wife because she didn't want Sharon Ferguson telling David who she was. Except for the fact that David figured it out by then, and named her when he caught her, that might have worked.

I guess I just don't understand why the killer tried to avoid a manslaughter charge by committing murder. :-/

The real reason I'm giving this book four stars, though, instead of five, is because when it ended, David - our protagonist - returned

to the the room with Sharon Ferguson, who was shot but still alive (for now???). ("Diana" - the killer - had presumably killed herself outside by jumping from a high point about the Ferguson pond into the pond.)

Then he moved to the telephone. He dialed.
"Give me the police," he said.
[fin]

Ending the book this way worked for the book, but it left me with a few questions: Namely,

will David be believed? Or will the police still arrest him for the murder? Will David go free? Or be convicted? And, will Mrs. Ferguson survive?

So I was ultimately left feeling slightly disappointed. But it was still a very good story that I really enjoyed. (And four stars is a perfectly acceptable rating.) ;-)