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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Not quite as compelling as her others but still good.
Extremely gripping and evokes real feelings of anger and frustration from the reader (at least this reader). The story is about a 34 year old woman, Toni, who is getting released from prison when the story opens. She was convicted of murdering her sister when she was 18 years old but she was innocent of the crime. The story jumps from the time leading up to the murder, Toni's time in prison, and present day. I was immediately pulled into the story and didn't want to put it down. The characters developed extremely well and the pacing was perfect. Such a great book!
I enjoy a good suspenseful read with a plot twist you don’t see coming, and this didn’t disappoint. I found myself infuriated at the bullying and nepotism, a great sign of being deeply involved in a book!
Some parts held my interest but the villain was WAY too over the top and the MC is extremely unlikable. Plus, that ending?!?! Pffffffffffffft. Next.
Eine Geschichte von Lügen und Gerechtigkeit, eher Mystery als Thriller aber wirklich gut!
Ich habe etwas gebraucht um reinzukommen in die Story, war aber dann schnell gefesselt.
Toni kommt mit 34 aus dem Gefängnis, versucht sich in der Welt zurechtzufinden.
So richtig weiß man anfangs gar nicht was passiert ist. Dann kommen immer wieder Rückblenden zur harten Zeit im Gefängnis, zurück zu ihrer Zeit als missverstandener rebellischer Teenager bis sich langsam alles fügt.
Wie einfach alles schief läuft, wie sie und ihr Freund verurteilt werden, wie sie beide ihre Strafe absitzen und beide dann nach dem wahren Mörder suchen.
Die Autorin hat so ein tolles Setting kreiert, die Geschichte langsam aber spannend aufgebaut, authentische Figuren erschaffen. Und einige Überraschungen eingebaut.
Toni war mir nicht direkt sympathisch aber mit der Zeit habe ich wirklich mitgefühlt, was sie durchgemacht hat, wie das ganze sie geprägt hat - ihre Geschichte ist tragisch und traurig - und macht wütend.
Und erst am Ende wird einem die Tragik des Ganzen klar.
Ich habe etwas gebraucht um reinzukommen in die Story, war aber dann schnell gefesselt.
Toni kommt mit 34 aus dem Gefängnis, versucht sich in der Welt zurechtzufinden.
So richtig weiß man anfangs gar nicht was passiert ist. Dann kommen immer wieder Rückblenden zur harten Zeit im Gefängnis, zurück zu ihrer Zeit als missverstandener rebellischer Teenager bis sich langsam alles fügt.
Wie einfach alles schief läuft, wie sie und ihr Freund verurteilt werden, wie sie beide ihre Strafe absitzen und beide dann nach dem wahren Mörder suchen.
Die Autorin hat so ein tolles Setting kreiert, die Geschichte langsam aber spannend aufgebaut, authentische Figuren erschaffen. Und einige Überraschungen eingebaut.
Toni war mir nicht direkt sympathisch aber mit der Zeit habe ich wirklich mitgefühlt, was sie durchgemacht hat, wie das ganze sie geprägt hat - ihre Geschichte ist tragisch und traurig - und macht wütend.
Und erst am Ende wird einem die Tragik des Ganzen klar.
Oh, this book started with such promise: mean girls at a high school escalate their "bullying" to a deadly crescendo. But could they possibly have escalated to the point of committing a murder? Intriguing, and not too far-fetched a concept in today's world. The main protagonist, Toni, has a difficult relationship with her parents, and a boyfriend who has a difficult relationship with the law. And both have the misfortune of being the last people to have been in the company of Toni's younger sister Nicole on the night she is murdered.
Convicted of Nicole's murder, partly on circumstantial evidence and partly on the false testimony of Toni's high school tormentors, Toni serves fifteen years in prison, as does her boyfriend Ryan. And when she comes out, it is to parents who have all but emotionally abandoned her, a town that is suspicious of her, and parole conditions that require her to stay away from Ryan (also released on parole), who remains the love of her life. That's a set up for a great story. And for a long, long while, the story was great--the flashbacks between Toni's high school past, the trial and her time in prison, and the present when she has returned home were interesting and riveting. And then I looked up and realized that I was 80% into the action with no hint of an actual mystery in sight. It would have been a much better book if structured to have gradual reveals that lead to an at least marginally surprising conclusion. Instead, the author settled for the highly unlikely "let's set a trap" scenario leading to the villains exposing themselves and then at the climax launch into a self-incriminating soliloquy about their motive. I can't lie, that part made me sigh and roll my eyes.
But, having said that, I read well over 300 pages that went by in a flash, and then only began to see the story lose steam when the unraveling of the mystery began. The characters were also at their most engaging in the flashbacks, when Toni was going through her difficult high school years, experiencing young-and-intense love, and competing with an apparently perfect sibling for the approval and understanding of her parents. Later, there was far too much detail about the difficulties of an ex-con re-entering society, and far too little detail about the nuances of the mystery itself. But this is undoubtedly a great writer whose work I look forward to exploring. I have a feeling there's a lot of stand-out work among her other books.
Convicted of Nicole's murder, partly on circumstantial evidence and partly on the false testimony of Toni's high school tormentors, Toni serves fifteen years in prison, as does her boyfriend Ryan. And when she comes out, it is to parents who have all but emotionally abandoned her, a town that is suspicious of her, and parole conditions that require her to stay away from Ryan (also released on parole), who remains the love of her life. That's a set up for a great story. And for a long, long while, the story was great--the flashbacks between Toni's high school past, the trial and her time in prison, and the present when she has returned home were interesting and riveting. And then I looked up and realized that I was 80% into the action with no hint of an actual mystery in sight. It would have been a much better book if structured to have gradual reveals that lead to an at least marginally surprising conclusion. Instead, the author settled for the highly unlikely "let's set a trap" scenario leading to the villains exposing themselves and then at the climax launch into a self-incriminating soliloquy about their motive. I can't lie, that part made me sigh and roll my eyes.
But, having said that, I read well over 300 pages that went by in a flash, and then only began to see the story lose steam when the unraveling of the mystery began. The characters were also at their most engaging in the flashbacks, when Toni was going through her difficult high school years, experiencing young-and-intense love, and competing with an apparently perfect sibling for the approval and understanding of her parents. Later, there was far too much detail about the difficulties of an ex-con re-entering society, and far too little detail about the nuances of the mystery itself. But this is undoubtedly a great writer whose work I look forward to exploring. I have a feeling there's a lot of stand-out work among her other books.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
3.5 to 4 stars I wasn't a huge fan of the beginning but the ending made it all worth it