Book Summary
Everything is never what it seems in a small town filled with gossip, secrets, and murder. Set in Wakarusa, Indiana, Margot Davies has a traumatic experience with the murder of her neighbor, the first murder case of six-year-old, January Jacobs in 1994. Fast forward to 2019, a bizarre, similar incident occurs to five-year-old, Natalie Clark. Margot returns to her hometown to take care of her sick uncle and after the breaking news of this latest event, Margot discovers there may be a connection between both murder cases. As a journalist, she seeks to unravel the truth and find the murderer who has never been brought to justice since then. During her investigation, Margot learns the deep, dark truths of her town's past and what really took place all those years ago.
Book Review
I heard about this book all over Instagram when it first came out because of the famous author, Ashley Flowers. She is the voice behind the popular podcast, Crime Junkies, and is now the new author of this thriller. It makes sense why she wrote this specific genre since she is a crime, story-telling professional. I have heard some of her podcast episodes so while I was reading this story, I could not help but hear her voice as if I was listening to a recording. The way she tells the story of what took place in a podcast episode for visual imagery is so well done, she paints a picture for the audience clearly. Reading her story had the same effect on me as well because of her thoughtful narration.
Although it took me a good while to finish this book, I did enjoy it, however, it started a tad slow for me in the beginning. It was enjoyable enough for me to give it a chance and to keep reading instead of labeling it as a DNF (do not finish) book. I am glad I gave it a chance because the pace eventually picked up for me somewhere in the middle once the plot began to unfold. I love alternating timeline stories; it's a good way to understand the chain of events taking place between the timelines and how the pivotal points of the story connect from past to present. I prefer first-person narratives but I did like the third-person narrative for this specific story, it fit pretty well with Ashley's writing and how it was told. I also enjoy stories where characters are connecting pieces together as a plot, which is what the protagonist of the story, Margot was attempting to do. I did find myself feeling confused at times, but I think that is only because of how spaced out my reading timeline was; it took me about a month or so to finish. As much as I felt satisfied with this book, it did not leave me with that, "I never want to put the book down", feeling, but I did want to finish reading it to see how it was going to end. The ending was a HUGE, "Are you kidding me?" moment! It kind of left me wondering if there is going to be a sequel because of how open the ending is. At the same time, it was a HUGE miss for me since the ending involves a certain character and a lack of character development. Some characters were relevant whereas others did not really have an important role in this story. All in all, the writing is simple enough to enjoy the concept of this story. I recommend this book to readers who want to start reading books and as an introduction to see and understand a thriller genre.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Enjoy and happy reading!
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