Journalist and suburban mom Claire Cooper suffers from panic disorder Most of her anxieties seem irrational nothing that cant be fixed with the help of some Xanax But late one stormy summer night when her husband Sam is away on one of his frequent business trips Claires fears come to life She discovers an intruder has broken into her young daughters bedroom She watches helplessly as he picks up her sleeping child from her bed Desperate to protect her family Claire puts herself in the line of fire and utters the plea that will undo her xTake me insteadx As she drives away in the kidnappers car Claire fears for her children but not for herself And she cant help noticing the reversal in her marriage -- for the first time in ten years Sam will not know where she is For the next week Claire is tied to a bed in a strange motel room the intruder her only com-panion She is forced to lie still and contemplate the reasons for this assault on her family Is this just a random crime or something more sinister Has the shadowy past that she tried so hard to leave behind finally caught up with her Day after day she goes deeper into herself reevaluating her marriage and her role as a mother and unburying the source of her crippling anxiety In seven days she will step out to the very brink of her soul -- perhaps never to return A riveting debut novel that will appeal to fans of Sue Miller and Janet Fitch Standing Still is a powerful exploration of the darker side of mother-hood and marriage.
