Review: Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten

Saving Max byAntoinette van Heugten

Review by: Lauren

Copy from: Publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Official Summary: Max Parkman—autistic and whip-smart, emotionally fragile and aggressive—is perfect in his mother’s eyes. Until he’s accused of murder.



Attorney Danielle Parkman knows her teenage son Max’s behavior has been getting worse—using drugs and lashing out. But she can’t accept the diagnosis she receives at a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that her son is deeply disturbed. Dangerous.


Until she finds Max, unconscious and bloodied, beside a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.


Trapped in a world of doubt and fear, barred from contacting Max, Danielle clings to the belief that her son is innocent. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her son really a killer?


With the justice system bearing down on them, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth, no matter what it is. She’ll do whatever it takes to find the killer and to save her son from being destroyed by a system that’s all too eager to convict him.


Review: Saving Max is all about the lengths a mother will go to for her child. Danielle knows that Max has his issues, and having lashed out at her, she’s aware he can be a bit violent…but a killer? She can’t believe that. It takes a tremendous amount of faith and motherly love to keep going though. Even when she starts to think…what if…she doesn’t let that stop her from searching for a new answer, a better outcome.

There were many times in this book that I just wanted to shout at Danielle and ask her “what are you thinking?! you’re not helping things!” However, you coudn’t deny her determination…and by not backing down, she is able to see things in a new way and figure out just what the truth is, good and bad.

I was definitely invested in these characters, which screams a good story for me. I want these people to seem real and I want to believe that this is not fiction, but a real story. You even feel for Max and start to feel for this often misunderstood kid, despite horrible evidence against him and despite the fact that the book focuses mainly on Danielle who is forced to be away from Max for most of it.

This book gives you a new definition of a mother…the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. It’s an emotional book and I would take caution if you are a mother as it might hurt you more to read certain moments in this book.

Overall, it’s a well-written story that gives a courtly novel a more personal feel. I highly recommend!