Nadine (23dollars) - reviewed on 4/20/2013 + 432 more book reviews

I read this for the April "Rain" theme in my online book club, The Reading Cove. It had come very highly recommended and I was really looking forward to it, so the theme moved it up in my TBR pile.

I really got into the first part of the mystery. The story opens strong with Jody Linder getting the news that her father's supposed murderer, Billy, was being released from prison after over 20 years in jail.

The story then goes back into the 80s when Jody was a toddler. And as I got to know the Linder family, I was really interested in following the mystery of what happened to Jody's parents all those years ago. But, I must admit, the ending was a disappointment. As others have mentioned, it felt quite contrived. Like the author just decided on it at the last minute to guarantee no reader would be able to guess. It felt like a lazy way to solve what was otherwise a darn good mystery.

And the present-day story with the adult Jody and Billy's son Collin felt very underdeveloped. I wish she'd given us a little more time with them as adults in the beginning of the book before going back into the past for the backstory.

So overall, I really enjoyed the author's writing as far as setting, characters and plot. I just think she dropped the ball at the end of this one.

I really wanted to give a B+, but for the contrived ending and uneven narrative, I'll go with B-.

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