#Review of Intersections By  Karen Uhlmann #KarenUhlmann @booksforwardpr

Intersections
By  Karen Uhlmann

Review written by Louise Cannon

 Intersections! Lines cross in life, perhaps they were meant to and perhaps not in this emotionally raw rollercoaster of a very different style of thriller from debut novelist and acclaimed Chicago reporter Karen Uhlmann.
Thanks to Books Forward for a copy to review.

Blurb

Style-guru Charlotte Oakes sells beautiful lifestyles, but her mentally ill daughter is an addict, her long marriage is dead, and she is pregnant with her ex-lover’s baby. Stunned after witnessing a hit-and-run in Chicago that leaves a child dead, Charlotte thinks she sees her Prius fleeing the scene. Her troubled daughter, Libby, is the only one who could have been driving.

His partner and best friend killed in a drug bust, police officer Ed Kelly learns that forensics has found that the fatal bullet came from Ed’s gun. Under internal investigation, Ed copes by filming cars at the site of the recent hit-and-run, hoping to catch the child’s killer. There, he notices Charlotte’s pilgrimages to the makeshift memorial, and over the weeks, the two become unlikely friends sharing intimate stories. But Charlotte won’t trust him with her most vulnerable secret of all: her suspicions about her daughter’s involvement in the accident.

When Ed finally learns the truth, he struggles with his beliefs and duties. If he keeps quiet, he has breached his commitment to the law. But if he does the right thing as an officer, he may send Libby to jail – and lose Charlotte.

Review

but all is colliding in the professional and personal world of style guru, Charlotte Oakes. Professionally, she beams in the glow of perfection, behind closed doors is a whole other story. Her daughter has mental health issues and a whole lot besides.

Ed Kelly is a police officer whose bullet happened to have killed his partner, but was it him who had done it?

There’s a hit and run and Charlotte isn’t so trusting of her daughter not to have been the one in the car.

Between Ed and Charlotte a friendship strikes up, but can there be more to it and what secrets will come out into the open?

Karen Uhlmann has delved deep into the grey intersections of lives and makes the readers question both the moral ground and how far you might go to protect people, especially a loved one. Intersectional lines criss-cross and are blurred, but will clarity come? 

There’s a real sense of emotions throughout the book from the complex characters that transfers to the reader as you wonder how you’d deal with such a big situation.

Intersections has an engaging plot that weaves a huge web of life, tragedy, romance and human flaws together.

All in all, it’s an intriguing read and one that would be good for book clubs.

About the Author

Debut author and acclaimed Chicago reporter Karen Uhlmann would watch a police officer recording traffic everyday at an intersection in her neighborhood. Four-to-five times a week, he would sit there hoping to catch the suspect of a fatal hit-and-run that killed a young child. Karen wondered what he might be going through. She explores this and more in her compelling drama, Intersections (May 6, 2025, She Writes Press), the story of a fatal hit-and-run in a quiet Chicago neighborhood, the police officer and suburban mother who both witness the tragedy, and the bond they form over their shared grief–with one big secret: the mother believes the killer is her daughter.