#jessicalynch

TLDR:  2*

“Short, rushed, and frankly annoying. The plot sounded great on paper, the actual execution of it was, at best, half-assed. I got a few pages in and spotted that I'd already read 30% which immediately made me think this was going to be rushed and I was right. Pace was far too uniformly fast. BAM, BAM, BAM, finished. I HATED the ending. The fact that the entire story is written/read one way and the ending shows a wholly different side/story was frustrating, confusing, and downright p'd me off. The "hint" of another murderer was so obviously fake you could spot it as soon as it happened, the fact that the author tried to use behavior that was so very opposite of the character until then made me believe this was a forced twist because otherwise, again, it would have been so obvious it hurt. Very little character development (obviously or you'd figure the ending out before you were 2 pages (aka 1/4) of the way in. I can see why this was rewritten/re-released in the hope of being improved, I hate to think how bad it was before. It reads like the author had a great idea, started well, then rushed to meet some imaginary deadline or shorter word count. It would probably make a good serial in a magazine where if you miss 3/4 of it you still know what happens as long as you read the first and last chapters.”

Themes: 

Whodunnit, wrongly accused, mystery, murder, small town, (I would add romance, but frankly the attempt at it was so terrible I don’t think it can be put in there without pain).

Main Review: (spoilers marked in italics)

The actual writing of this book was good. Syntax great, style good, as a writer I can appreciate a well worded and well written attempt. Honestly, I think there was potential here and not just because it was well edited and most was well phrased. 

The plot was good. Strangers after a mishap end up in a small remote town while on vacation, husband is murdered, wife is a suspect, who did it? There was some “didn’t see it coming” but mostly because there were completely pointless random acts thrown in and by about halfway it became increasingly evident that this book was floundering. As strangers in town there were only so many avenues as to who could have killed Jake - people chasing them from home, random act of violence, or someone was lying. And by halfway through it was rather obvious that someone was lying even before the tidbit about the calls to a local number. I don’t mind obvious plots, but in a story that survives on a “final” twist to reveal the killer knowing by halfway that the person you’re supposed to think did it is so obviously not the killer means I could have skipped to the end of the book and be done with. 

There were a few things that bothered me about the plot:

The locks at Ophelia. NO ONE is going to stay in a hotel that automatically locks guests into their rooms at 9pm like mental institution, especially some teeny bed and breakfast in Nowhereville. NO ONE. And no way on a security system that complex will the windows not have locks too. I didn’t see the purpose for this other than for her to “get locked in” at one point which could have simply been done by having the door stick or be locked without needing the elaborate lockdown mechanism. 

Mason: Make up your mind about the character. The way he was written it sounded like at first the author wasn’t sure whether she wanted the protagonist to end up with him or Lucas. She dithered between both characters while trying to make the grieving widow not look like a sham for being on a date within 24 hours of her husband dying. Mason goes between “good ol’ boy” to borderline stalker. His personality is too loud, too pushy, and his actions do not fit with the description the author is trying to push. It comes across as fake. And, without giving a spoiler away, frankly it was just too damn obvious he was getting played. The “evidence” was too convenient, too well timed. 

Lucas: So obviously shifty it hurts. From the moment this guy comes on the page you can tell there’s something”off” about him and the way he behaves. He’s not a believable character and you can tell most of the “story” surrounding him isn't real because of the way he’s written. Lucas spoils the entire point of how this book is written - to twist at the end and show that someone wasn't who they thought he was. Sorry, **spoiler - it’s Lucas, the obviously shifty non-shifty character. And you’d have to be stupid not to figure it out by the time they go to the coffeehouse together.** He’s a small town doctor who has never done an autopsy before, well guess what, that’s because a medical examiner is supposed to do that. He’s a small town doctor in a place no one has ever heard of yet he’s invited to lecture at prestigious universities where he manages to meet the victim, ha, no. Lecturers have to have credentials for that or a reason why they’re invited to speak - like a specialty, which this man definitely doesn't possess. There’s nothing believable about him the way he’s written and that’s a good reason the good plot floundered. 

The “evidence”: How did Mason’s gun get used and he didn’t notice? Especially when he was supposedly on duty at the time. I’m pretty sure even a small-town cop will notice his service weapon is gone, especially if he’s a “toe-the-line-do-gooder” in a place where nothing happens. Why is the sheriff so determined it’s the wife? There’s never any actual information given asides from the phone calls and the fact that the spouse is usually a suspect to determine why they don’t even pursue any other lines of inquiry. There’s no backstory, no broadening of the suspect list, it’s ALWAYS the wife even while the author feebly attempts to tell you it’s not. At least give us something to put us on the wrong trail which isn’t so painfully transparent that even Mayberry’s Andy Tailor could figure it out. 

The Gossip Tree: Yes, every small town thrives on gossip. SO USE IT. No one saw Lucas faking? No one knew where her car was? Come on. If the gossip is so important in the town that within minutes Caitlin knows her ex has had coffee with the widow then the curtain twitchers will pass anything like wildfire. Throw in some other rumours to make it less obvious who did it! Throw in some information to throw us off! A good idea which could have developed the plot, wasted because it was underused. 

The ending: 

I love being shocked, I love the ultimate twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. The fact that this was staring me in the face halfway through to book made it more annoying than anything because it was written in a tone that screamed “HA you didn’t know” rather like a toddler who has a blanket over their head tells you that you can’t see them.  **Spoiler: It was half-assed, smug, and made both the wife and Lucas into very unlikeable characters who don’t get their deserved comeuppance. The last 2 chapters seemed like the author had run out of ideas so they simply rushed off the ending to finish it. The idea was cliche - pin it on someone else for the ending to be a surprise, only it was too obviously pinned.** The ending made me dislike the book, I would have given it 3* up until the final chapter as an “okay but not great”. The ending made me wish this was written from a different perspective. If the entire book had been written from Mason’s voice or even Collins as someone investigating the case the ending would have been a good fit. I can’t think of any other way the book and ending didn’t have irreconcilable differences with the main book. It was like a bad marriage of two totally differently written books with the same plot.