Unbecoming

Unbecoming by Rececca Scherm 

*book received in return for fair review

Amazon Blurb -

On the grubby outskirts of Paris, Grace restores bric-a-brac, mends teapots, re-sets gems. She calls herself Julie, says she’s from California, and slips back to a rented room at night. Regularly, furtively, she checks the hometown paper on the Internet. Home is Garland, Tennessee, and there, two young men have just been paroled. One, she married; the other, she’s in love with. Both were jailed for a crime that Grace herself planned in exacting detail. The heist went bad—but not before she was on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag. And so, in Paris, begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels—and she becomes another young woman entirely.

*****

Grace is a young girl looking for a place to feel wanted.  Riley and his family did that perfectly for her. She was the daughter Doctor and Mrs. Graham never had. She and Riley were inseparable, his mom even set up a room for her. Part of a threesome that includes Riley's best buddy Alls, they all hangout together growing up in this southern town. The two's relationship blossoms into a romance at a relatively young age, but the dynamic of the threesome doesn't change.  

Told all through Grace's voice, we go on a trip through her life. We travel back and forth from the past to the present. From a young little girl who feels unwanted by her mother and then left out when twin brothers are born, to a teen getting ready to head off to college. There's one thing, Grace is a liar who also has a penchant for stealing. And so begins the plan to rob the town's historic museum.  

The heist goes bad quick landing Riley and  Alls in prison for three years.Grace goes on the run, now in Paris living as Julie working in a shop restoring antiques, hiding in hopes they never find her. Monitering the local paper through the internet for any info on their release, when the day finally comes, she is always looking over her shoulder. How it all unfolds was quite a surprise.

I liked this book.  I never really warmed up to neither Grace nor Riley, so I can see the comparison to Gone Girl, though I did find myself hurting for her more than once. Ms.Scherm has a great writing style. Going from the past to the present seamlessly it wasn't at all stilted. The only negative is that I didn't find it to be a real thriller in the sense of heart pounding action. Other than that, I recommend this book for a good read.

3 1/2 cannolis