Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas Book Report

A Diary of Secrets

Have you ever wondered why the person you love just walks out on you? Katie does wonder. Her perfect boyfriend, Matt, just walks out on her without leaving her a note discussing why he did it. Instead he leaves a diary of his past. Katie reads the diary and recognizes that the handwriting in the diary does not match Matt’s. It belongs to Suzanne, Matt’s wife. Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas is a dramatic romance written by James Patterson. In this book Katie discovers Matt’s past, his wife Suzanne, and his child, Nicholas.

Katie, who is an editor for a New York paper, thinks she has the perfect life after dating her boyfriend Matt, who is a writer and painter. Matt is everything she wants in a man. One day, on July 19, Katie comes home to a note written by Matt, explaining that he loves her and that is why he had to leave. He laid a diary on top of the note, saying that it will explain everything Katie needs to know of his past life.

The story is now from Suzanne’s point of view of writing the diary. Suzanne begins by explaining to Nicholas that she is writing this diary for him so he will know who his parents are. She starts off by discussing her life as a doctor at the Massachusetts General Hospital, her boyfriend Dr. Michael Bernstein, and her dog, Gustavus, or Gus. Suzanne and Gus were taking a walk in the Boston Public Garden when Gus broke free from his leash to chase some swans. Suzanne runs after him, but stops after she feels horrid, sharp, pains in her chest. She wakes up in the hospital and discovers she had a heart attack. Suzanne comes home four weeks later and sees Matt sitting at the dining table. He talks to her about her heart attack and how it has affected their relationship. He tells her he is breaking up with her because he thinks she cannot have children. Suzanne runs out of the house, resigns from her job at the hospital, and moves back home to Martha’s Vineyard.

            She takes a job as the town doctor and becomes knowledgeable of everyone in town. Suzanne’s car broke down and she tried to fix it when another car pulled up behind her. His name was Matt Wolfe. Matt was an old high school friend of Suzanne, but they lost touch after she moved away. Matt fixes her car and they catch up on everything over dinner. Suzanne and Matt believe they had fallen in love with each other.

Suzanne’s house really needs to be fixed. A painter and carpenter named known as Picasso takes the job without being paid. Suzanne continues her romantic evenings with Matt until she stops in a fast food restaurant, called Harry’s Hamburgers, when she finds Picasso sitting near a window eating his meal. She stops by his table to chat and discovers his name is also Matt, Matt Harrison. This man was Nicholas’ father.

The story is brought back to Katie’s home where she is waiting for Matt to arrive. She has incredible new and a gift for him. She has music playing, candles lit, and glasses of wine.  When he arrives, he doesn’t give her time to say the news. He tells her he is sorry and leaves. Katie unwraps the gift. Inside the box was a rattle. Katie was pregnant.

Suzanne starts to like Matt Harrison hanging around her house. She finally gathers the courage to ask him to join her for dinner. He accepts and after dinner he asks her out to dinner. Matt takes Suzanne touring around the island to show her the sights. Suzanne realizes that she is in love with Matt. After several weeks had past, Matt Wolfe suddenly shows up. Suzanne sits down with Matt and tells him how she is in love with Matt Harrison. Matt Wolfe accepts the fact that he has lost Suzanne and leaves.

Suzanne writes down the tragedy of Gus. She describes a truck coming around the curve that hit Gus. Suzanne calls Matt and rushes Gus to the vet clinic. After a few hours have past, the doctor comes out with the terrible new of Gus’ death. Suzanne breaks down, but feels better after Matt holds her. Suzanne decides it is time to tell him about the heart attack. Surprisingly, he already heard about it and is perfectly okay with it.

Katie travels to her parents’ house to tell them she was pregnant. She just couldn’t talk about it. Her father was already upset that she went to New York. She tried to tell her mother, but she choked on her own words. She called Matt and left a message on his answering machine, telling him she read the diary.

Suzanne and Matt are on another date, but this was different because out of nowhere he asks Suzanne to marry him. Suzanne’s wedding is beautiful. They were married in a chapel on a snowy December 31 1997. About a month after the wedding Suzanne start feeling sick in the morning but feels fine for the rest of the day. She suddenly realizes she might be pregnant and tells Matt to come home. Suzanne believes she is going to be a great mom. She keeps thinking about it, but suddenly, a few weeks before having the baby, she feels horrible pains. She knows it couldn’t have been contractions because they were up in her chest. They arrive at the hospital and the doctor tells them that Suzanne’s blood pressure is too high and they have to get the baby out immediately. The c-section was a success and Nicholas was brought into the world. Suzanne tells how Nicholas eats a lot and how he didn’t sleep until two weeks after he was born.

Katie wonders what happened to Suzanne. Did she die of heart problems? Was Matt cheating on her? She finally found out after she finished the diary. Matt finishes the diary by explaining how Suzanne was going to the store to get Nicholas’ birthday gift when she had a heart attack on her way there. She passed out and drove into a pole. Unfortunately, Nicholas was with her and he died too. Katie traveled to the Abel’s Hill Cemetery where Suzanne and Nicholas were buried. The July 18, 1999 was carved on both of their headstones, the day they passed away. Katie had to find Matt. She traveled to Martha’s Vineyard, but gave up. She went back to her office at work and saw Matt kneeling in front of her office window. He told her that he wanted to marry her and have children. Katie told him she was pregnant and the story ended with Matt and Katie getting married and with Katie feeling happy and lucky.

In conclusion, Katie figured out why Matt had left and learned about his wife Suzanne and his son Nicholas. This was a sad but satisfying book based on James Patterson’s actual life. Patterson did have a wife that died. After that he married again to a woman named Susan, who wrote a diary for the son.

This book is recommended to anyone, especially people who have not experienced anything about losing a loved one. Those who have would love this book as well. James Patterson fines might be shocked that it’s a love story and not a crime story. I give this book a five.