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bookcrazyblogger's review
3.0
Danielle is a single mom and successful lawyer, struggling to find a treatment plan for her troubled son Max, who in addition to having autism, is also experiencing typical teenage symptoms such as heartbreak, forays into drug use and a major attitude problem. When Danielle finds Max’s journal that has an in-depth suicide plan, she manages to convince him (with the help of the psychiatrist) that he needs in-patient care at Maitland Psychiatric hospital in Iowa, thousands of miles from their native New York. Upon arrival, she meets Marianne, a super mom, who has her own difficulties with a special needs son. When Max is declared deeply disturbed and dangerous, found unconscious and bloody, holding a weapon used to kill his roommate, a legal battle begins. Danielle must use her wits to prove that the real killer isn’t her son-and to find out what’s really happening with her boy. Okay so this one might have been pretty inaccurate but it was also a very fast paced legal/medical thriller that had a CRAZY ending. You know how most people are like “Yeah this would be a great beach read,” and it’s typically all love and rainbows? Well call me porcupine patty because I like my beach reads to be about murder. In other words: this is a decent book about crazy people doing crazy stuff.
punkeymonkey529's review
5.0
I really liked this book. It felt real, and kept me on the edge of my seat at so many times.
Max Parkman is an autistic boy a high functioning autistic boy. After a downward spiral Danielle, Max's mother brings him to the best mental facility in the country to try and sold the issue for his outburst and suicidal tendencies.
While at the hospital some things start not going so smoothly. Danielle steps in to sold what's going on. The hospital refuses to release information on how they are treating Max. After some investigation she decides to take Max out of the facility. They wont allow it. Shortly afterwards a murder occurs with another client at the facility, Max is left to blame, convinced her son is innocent she goes on a search jumping through hoops of all sorts to prove his innocence.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say the ending left me shocked. I did start to guess something along the lines of who committed the murder,but like how it ended. I don't think this will spoil anything, but I can't wait for a sequel.
Max Parkman is an autistic boy a high functioning autistic boy. After a downward spiral Danielle, Max's mother brings him to the best mental facility in the country to try and sold the issue for his outburst and suicidal tendencies.
While at the hospital some things start not going so smoothly. Danielle steps in to sold what's going on. The hospital refuses to release information on how they are treating Max. After some investigation she decides to take Max out of the facility. They wont allow it. Shortly afterwards a murder occurs with another client at the facility, Max is left to blame, convinced her son is innocent she goes on a search jumping through hoops of all sorts to prove his innocence.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say the ending left me shocked. I did start to guess something along the lines of who committed the murder,but like how it ended. I don't think this will spoil anything, but I can't wait for a sequel.
jmneil27's review
4.0
This book really surprised me, I was not expecting it to be so good!! Definitely worth the read!!!
pussreboots's review
1.0
Saving Max by Antionette van Heugten sells itself as a thriller about a whip smart autistic boy who is accused of murder and the mother who does everything in her power to support her son and see him exonerated. Those points are there but the story is too flawed for me to recommend.
The novel has four main flaws that kept me from wanting to finish the book. First is the characterization of Max. Second is his mother, Danielle, who is supposed to carry the story but is an unlikeable and unbelievable character. Third is the medical staff which seems out of place in a novel set in modern times. Finally, there's the plotting and pacing of the mystery which takes far too long to get started.
Let's start with Max. He's the titular character. He's the reason for there even being a book. He's described as "whip smart" and a highly functioning autistic child. The problem though, is that these are attributes only. In the 120 pages I read, he hardly has any lines, any actions, any purpose other than to be talked about by the adult characters in the novel. Informed attributes do not make believable characters. Characteristics should be shown, not told!
Then there's Danielle who is supposedly a devoted mother and brilliant (perhaps "whip-smart"?) attorney who is up for partner. Except, she doesn't show any of this brilliance. Instead of using the legal system to her advantage to help her son, she rants and raves when the hospital staff aren't giving her access to her son. Then after he's accused of murder she again ignores the legal system to skulk around like Jessica Fletcher to investigate on her own. No. I don't buy that for one moment.
So then there's the medical staff. They might as well be photocopied right out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or perhaps the even older Snake Pit. Patients rights have progressed some since then and parental rights along with them. Had Saving Max been set thirty years ago, I would ignore their outrageous behavior. But all the way through the first hundred pages I'm wondering why Danielle doesn't just sue their asses instead of flailing around.
The final straw for me was the pacing of the mystery. I don't expect there to be a body on the first page or even at the end of the first chapter. I do however, expect the mystery to happen in the first fifty pages. Saving Max, though, waits until after one hundred pages to finally produce a body and frame Max. Those first hundred pages are just Danielle regretting her decision to take her son to this horrible hospital but doing nothing useful to undo her mistake.
So by the time the mystery actually started I realized I would never get to know Max, I hated his mother, I didn't find anything credible about the setting and I didn't care who had actually killed the other patient or why.
I received the book for review.
The novel has four main flaws that kept me from wanting to finish the book. First is the characterization of Max. Second is his mother, Danielle, who is supposed to carry the story but is an unlikeable and unbelievable character. Third is the medical staff which seems out of place in a novel set in modern times. Finally, there's the plotting and pacing of the mystery which takes far too long to get started.
Let's start with Max. He's the titular character. He's the reason for there even being a book. He's described as "whip smart" and a highly functioning autistic child. The problem though, is that these are attributes only. In the 120 pages I read, he hardly has any lines, any actions, any purpose other than to be talked about by the adult characters in the novel. Informed attributes do not make believable characters. Characteristics should be shown, not told!
Then there's Danielle who is supposedly a devoted mother and brilliant (perhaps "whip-smart"?) attorney who is up for partner. Except, she doesn't show any of this brilliance. Instead of using the legal system to her advantage to help her son, she rants and raves when the hospital staff aren't giving her access to her son. Then after he's accused of murder she again ignores the legal system to skulk around like Jessica Fletcher to investigate on her own. No. I don't buy that for one moment.
So then there's the medical staff. They might as well be photocopied right out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or perhaps the even older Snake Pit. Patients rights have progressed some since then and parental rights along with them. Had Saving Max been set thirty years ago, I would ignore their outrageous behavior. But all the way through the first hundred pages I'm wondering why Danielle doesn't just sue their asses instead of flailing around.
The final straw for me was the pacing of the mystery. I don't expect there to be a body on the first page or even at the end of the first chapter. I do however, expect the mystery to happen in the first fifty pages. Saving Max, though, waits until after one hundred pages to finally produce a body and frame Max. Those first hundred pages are just Danielle regretting her decision to take her son to this horrible hospital but doing nothing useful to undo her mistake.
So by the time the mystery actually started I realized I would never get to know Max, I hated his mother, I didn't find anything credible about the setting and I didn't care who had actually killed the other patient or why.
I received the book for review.
lauraorourke's review
3.0
Great story but it seems poorly written. The characters are annoying and unbelievable and the plot seems to move at an unrealistic pace.
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