Review & Giveaway: The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady

by:  Elizabeth Stuckey-French
published by:  Doubleday

Seventy-seven-year-old Marylou Ahearn is going to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs come hell or high water. In 1953, he gave her a radioactive cocktail without her consent as part of a secret government study that had horrible consequences.

Marylou has been plotting her revenge for fifty years. When she accidentally discovers his whereabouts in Florida, her plans finally snap into action. She high tails it to hot and humid Tallahassee, moves in down the block from where a now senile Spriggs lives with his daughter’s family, and begins the tricky work of insinuating herself into their lives. But she has no idea what a nest of yellow jackets she is stum­bling into.

Before the novel is through, someone will be kidnapped, an unlikely couple will get engaged, someone will nearly die from eating a pineapple upside-down cake laced with anti-freeze, and that’s not all . . .

Told from the varied perspectives of an incredible cast of endearing oddball characters and written with the flair of a native Floridian, this dark comedy does not disappoint.

I generally like a dark comedy, but when I was reading about this book I was trying to imagine who funny a 77 year old woman could be.  Think Betty White!  If this book was ever made into a movie I could totally see her playing the part as the devious Marylou acting like nothing but a forgetful sweet old lady but in reality trying to kill an old man and make his family crazy. 

Marylou wreaks all kinds of havoc on Wilson Sprigg's family.  Through her mischievous manipulations his family is awakened from the stupor they've been living in and their lives get turned completely upside down.  In the end though, all these problems aren't for the worse.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  I've been in a bit of a slump lately.  I've had a hard time finding a book to hold my interest all the way through and this one did.  The story was unique and pulled in contemporary as well as some historical issues.  It has a little bit of something for everyone.

Thanks to the lovely people at Doubleday I have 2 copies to giveaway.  US addresses only, no PO boxes.  Leave a comment with a valid email address before April 13th.  I'll randomly pick winners on the 13th.  If you want extra entries you can spread the word (twitter, facebook, etc.) about this giveaway and leave a separate comment with a link to each place you posted about it.