Publication Date: June 9, 2020
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Rating: ★★★
Their reunion just became a crime scene . . .
June Moody, a thirty-something English professor, just wants to get away from her recent breakup and reunite with girlfriends over summer break. Her old friend and longtime nemesis, Sadie MacTavish, a mega-successful author, invites June and her college friends to a baby shower at her sprawling estate in the San Juan Islands. June is less than thrilled to spend time with Sadie–and her husband, June’s former crush–but agrees to go.The party gets off to a shaky start when old grudges resurface, but when they wake the next morning, they find something worse: Sadie is missing, the house is in shambles, and bloodstains mar the staircase. None of them has any memory of the night before; they wonder if they were drugged. Everyone’s a suspect. Since June had a secret rendezvous with Sadie’s husband, she has plenty of reason to suspect herself. Apparently, so do the cops.
A Celtic knot of suspense and surprise, this brooding, atmospheric novel will keep you guessing as each twist reveals a new possibility. It will remind you of friendships hidden in the depths of your own past, and make you wonder how well you really know the people you’ve loved the longest.
Review:
Thank you to Jody Gehrman, Crooked Lane Books & NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
This book started off pretty interesting. It was the story of women who went to college together, but lost touch over the 20 years since then. June is the main character who we learn most about throughout this novel. There are many different characters, but we see June and her old friend and famous author, Sadie, the most. When the group starts to party at Sadie’s mansion, things get weird. No one can remember things from the night before, Sadie is missing, and there’s a giant blood stain on the wall. No one can seem to remember what happened and there’s suddenly a lot of questions surrounding this story.
A very important part of this story is that Sadie’s husband, Ethan, is June’s old crush. They met in the woods during this little getaway, so it’s very easy and also explained in the synopsis that it could’ve been June that caused Sadie’s disappearance. Jody Gehrman’s writing was good to where you thought it was everyone at one point. However, I was able to guess who it was pretty early on.
I wasn’t really able to connect with the characters. I didn’t feel like there was really any growth or development. I’m someone who really enjoys seeing a difference in a character by the end, and I didn’t feel as though there was any difference.
The thing I liked the most was the fact that the story could’ve actually been real. You hear about these types of stories on the news all of the time. Once you read this book, you’ll understand what I mean by that. I don’t want to give anything away. This book felt real. The characters felt real and so did the story. I could definitely see the way they spoke and the dialogue being real.
Overall, I liked this story, but I wish I was able to connect with the characters more. The writing was well-done and I would definitely give Jody Gehrman another try!
Lacey's Library 