Review by Booklist Review
Ruth and Hal have been trying to get pregnant with no success, and as Ruth sees the end of her childbearing years approaching, she decides there is only one option left: find a surrogate. Cally is a somewhat lost young woman; but, with dreams of a successful future, she is seemingly the perfect vessel to give Ruth the baby she has always wanted. Everything changes when Cally slips into the night with the newborn shortly after giving birth, leaving Ruth panicked and desperate to find them. What follows reveals truths about the characters and their motivations, and leads to questions about the complicated relationships of surrogacy, which some may view as anti-surrogacy and anti-adoption. While the story is an interesting concept, the writing is a bit stilted, and more tell than show. The Surrogate stands as a domestic drama with some elements of suspense, however, it lacks the unexpected twists or surprise ending that most readers expect from the thriller genre.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set during the winter of 2002--2003, Halleen's soapy debut sees 42-year-old Minneapolis journalist Ruth Olson and her husband, 48-year-old real estate lawyer Hal, seek out an egg donor and surrogate when Ruth's doctor deems her infertile. Though Hal already has two teenage sons from a previous marriage, Ruth desperately wants to raise a baby with him, and Hal will do whatever it takes to make her happy. Hoping to earn enough money to finish college, 20-year-old Cally Scott signs a contract with the couple that requires her to relinquish custody shortly after giving birth; when the moment comes, however, Cally decides she needs more time, zipping the infant into a duffel bag and fleeing the hospital via a second-story window. Cally then persuades her ex-boyfriend, Digger Wilkins, to take them north to his uncle's hunting cabin. Through a rotating first-person narration, Halleen explores the legal and emotional complexities of surrogacy. Tension escalates in tandem with the characters' exponentially irrational decisions, propelling the somewhat convoluted plot toward a cathartic (if convenient) conclusion. Domestic suspense fans will find enough to like. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A contract for surrogacy goes predictably bad in this debut novel told from multiple points of view. Cally is 20, impressionable, and optimistic in 2001 when she signs the papers to become a surrogate for Hal Olson and Ruth Martin. Cally needs the cash, and Type A Ruth has always dreamed of being a mother. It's Hal's second marriage, and he's only marginally interested in having another child, but Ruth envisions a baby as the glue that will bind her family together. "I believed it would be the ultimate bond," she says. Days after giving birth, though, Cally splits from the hospital, sneaking the infant out. Cally's old boyfriend Digger picks them up in his truck and they head north. "When I saw her," Cally says, "and the way she looked at me, I just…couldn't [give her away]." She starts daydreaming about a new life with Digger and the infant: "Why couldn't we be one of those families? Weren't we just like anybody else?" Hal and Ruth are terrified and understandably angry that she disappeared. Author Halleen's background as an attorney shines as flashback chapters delve into the minutiae of contract law, but the plot is easy to predict. The story is told from all four characters' points of view, though some of the weaker ones feel like the results of an exercise in Googling cultural touchpoints. "That's why I play Final Fantasy VII on Playstation," one of Hal's sons says in a flashback, letting us know he's squarely in 1997. Cally's journey away from the hospital, Hal, and Ruth isn't directed by much of a plan; the search to find her is short. Digger wants nothing to do with Cally's fantasy of being a family of three; instead, he saw surrogacy as "creepy as hell." Cally's journey comes to a mostly inevitable conclusion, forecasted by the chapter where the characters negotiate the contract. A thriller without many thrills. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
