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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This went on far longer than it needed to.
As someone who lived in Bend for 22 years, it felt like the author wanted to prove how cool he is with how much he knows about it and that was distracting.
As someone who lived in Bend for 22 years, it felt like the author wanted to prove how cool he is with how much he knows about it and that was distracting.
tense
medium-paced
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A horrible accident happens to a woman's son and the people she leans on the most for comfort and support are the ones hurting her the most.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Liz and Owen live next door to Carole and David on the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. Carole and David’s son, Charlie, goes missing, but we know that Liz accidentally hit him while backing out of her driveway in a rush to take the bar exam.
The book begins with a story years before of a young Liz, her brother, and their neighbor’s son, Seth, going with Seth’s dad, Dr. Dan Miller, to try out Dan’s new boat. The Millers and Liz’s parents are good friends and neighbors. On the way, they encounter a flash flood and are washed down the road. Dan climbs out of the car, rescues Liz’s brother, and then as he’s reaching in the car for Seth, Seth pushes Liz forward and says to take her first. Right after Dan pulls Liz to safety, the car is washed away with Seth in it. Even though Dan saved their son and daughter, Liz’s parents blame Dan for the accident (Um. What?) and blame it on his drinking problem. In the hospital, Liz mentions that Dan smelled of mulled wine and that seals the deal.
The rest of the book is set in present day. Liz hits Charlie, panics, and hides his body in her garage. She tells Owen, who finds him in the garage barely breathing. So Owen suffocates him. They dump his body under some juniper trees out in a field, and figure the rancher that owns the property will find him soon and then Liz won’t have to be tortured hearing Carole hold out hope that her son is still alive. The reader knows that someone followed them, and picks the boy up.
The next day a random hiker sees an older man in a Pabst cap yelling at a boy and forcing him in his car. The hiker tells the police. It was strange that the man had the boy out hiking that early in the morning and the man didn’t have a car seat. The hiker remembers the car had New Mexico license plates. Turn out that was all a red herring. But because of this, I assumed it was Dan that had followed Liz and Owen and had picked the boy up. Which SPOILER: it was. But the New Mexico Pabst man and boy had nothing to do with Dan.
Owen and David are awful men who cheat on their wives and only care about money. The two characters were so similar, they kind of blended into one interchangeable character. Owen owns a software company called Lumatyx (was it supposed to sound like Lunatics, or was that just me?) and David owns a restaurant called Sweetwater.
Knowing that Owen really killed the boy and not Liz, Owen is anxious for the body to be found or for blame to be put on someone, so he leads David to think that an innocent tourist that was on the river at the time of Charlie’s disappearance was responsible. David takes the bait and beats the guy almost to death. David has a moment of conscious and drops the guy off at the hospital.
David and Carole’s marriage falls apart. Carole is disgusted with David. David was always resentful that his son took time away from him. David continues to work at his restaurant (that is bankrolled by Carole) and she continues to fall apart. Her only friend is Liz. Liz, too, falls apart because she knows (thinks) she killed Carole’s son. She’s cracking, and Owen plans for kill Liz to shut her up so he doesn’t get dragged into it.
In the end, Liz breaks into old Dan Miller’s house because his once pristine yard is overgrown and she wonders if he’s ok. Inside, she smells the same spicy mulled wine smell, and realizes it was Old Spice. (How has she not smelled Old Spice even once in the last 25 or so years?!). She realizes that she ruined Dan’s already ruined life by telling everyone he smelled like alcohol all those years ago. Oops.
He finds her in his house and says that he wished she’d died instead of Seth. Liz heard noises in the basement and finds Charlie. Dan saw Liz hit him and later watched Owen and Liz dump him. He rescued the boy from his awful parents (I mean, he’d witnessed David and Carole yelling at each other, he saw what kind of man David was, he had some reasons....) and awful neighbors (Liz did hit him and cover it up, and he’d seen Owen having sex with women that weren’t Liz all over Liz’s house and David’s house, and then, you know, saw them dump the kid under a juniper tree....so he’s not wrong there). Dan and Liz fight and in the struggle, Liz bashes his head into the cement floor and he dies. Liz reunites Charlie and Carole and all should be good. But Liz actually does have a conscience and ends up confessing to the police and Carole. The end.
I didn’t like how Dan was made out to be the bad, crazy guy. His only son died as he rescued Liz and her brother’s lives, he was then vilified by the community for being a drunk bc of Liz’s comments, and then rescues a boy who would have surely died if he’d been left in that field where Liz and Owen dumped him, and then gets his head bashed in by Liz and is made to look like the town crazy man who kidnapped the boy. (I mean, yes, that was nuts. He should not have kept him hidden. But he didn’t outright kidnap him. He second hand kidnapped him, which doesn’t make it better, but still, I feel for the guy and hate the way it ended.)
Plus what does the title have to do with the story? The last thing she (Liz) did was tell the truth? I could think of 10 better titles than this one.
The book begins with a story years before of a young Liz, her brother, and their neighbor’s son, Seth, going with Seth’s dad, Dr. Dan Miller, to try out Dan’s new boat. The Millers and Liz’s parents are good friends and neighbors. On the way, they encounter a flash flood and are washed down the road. Dan climbs out of the car, rescues Liz’s brother, and then as he’s reaching in the car for Seth, Seth pushes Liz forward and says to take her first. Right after Dan pulls Liz to safety, the car is washed away with Seth in it. Even though Dan saved their son and daughter, Liz’s parents blame Dan for the accident (Um. What?) and blame it on his drinking problem. In the hospital, Liz mentions that Dan smelled of mulled wine and that seals the deal.
The rest of the book is set in present day. Liz hits Charlie, panics, and hides his body in her garage. She tells Owen, who finds him in the garage barely breathing. So Owen suffocates him. They dump his body under some juniper trees out in a field, and figure the rancher that owns the property will find him soon and then Liz won’t have to be tortured hearing Carole hold out hope that her son is still alive. The reader knows that someone followed them, and picks the boy up.
The next day a random hiker sees an older man in a Pabst cap yelling at a boy and forcing him in his car. The hiker tells the police. It was strange that the man had the boy out hiking that early in the morning and the man didn’t have a car seat. The hiker remembers the car had New Mexico license plates. Turn out that was all a red herring. But because of this, I assumed it was Dan that had followed Liz and Owen and had picked the boy up. Which SPOILER: it was. But the New Mexico Pabst man and boy had nothing to do with Dan.
Owen and David are awful men who cheat on their wives and only care about money. The two characters were so similar, they kind of blended into one interchangeable character. Owen owns a software company called Lumatyx (was it supposed to sound like Lunatics, or was that just me?) and David owns a restaurant called Sweetwater.
Knowing that Owen really killed the boy and not Liz, Owen is anxious for the body to be found or for blame to be put on someone, so he leads David to think that an innocent tourist that was on the river at the time of Charlie’s disappearance was responsible. David takes the bait and beats the guy almost to death. David has a moment of conscious and drops the guy off at the hospital.
David and Carole’s marriage falls apart. Carole is disgusted with David. David was always resentful that his son took time away from him. David continues to work at his restaurant (that is bankrolled by Carole) and she continues to fall apart. Her only friend is Liz. Liz, too, falls apart because she knows (thinks) she killed Carole’s son. She’s cracking, and Owen plans for kill Liz to shut her up so he doesn’t get dragged into it.
In the end, Liz breaks into old Dan Miller’s house because his once pristine yard is overgrown and she wonders if he’s ok. Inside, she smells the same spicy mulled wine smell, and realizes it was Old Spice. (How has she not smelled Old Spice even once in the last 25 or so years?!). She realizes that she ruined Dan’s already ruined life by telling everyone he smelled like alcohol all those years ago. Oops.
He finds her in his house and says that he wished she’d died instead of Seth. Liz heard noises in the basement and finds Charlie. Dan saw Liz hit him and later watched Owen and Liz dump him. He rescued the boy from his awful parents (I mean, he’d witnessed David and Carole yelling at each other, he saw what kind of man David was, he had some reasons....) and awful neighbors (Liz did hit him and cover it up, and he’d seen Owen having sex with women that weren’t Liz all over Liz’s house and David’s house, and then, you know, saw them dump the kid under a juniper tree....so he’s not wrong there). Dan and Liz fight and in the struggle, Liz bashes his head into the cement floor and he dies. Liz reunites Charlie and Carole and all should be good. But Liz actually does have a conscience and ends up confessing to the police and Carole. The end.
I didn’t like how Dan was made out to be the bad, crazy guy. His only son died as he rescued Liz and her brother’s lives, he was then vilified by the community for being a drunk bc of Liz’s comments, and then rescues a boy who would have surely died if he’d been left in that field where Liz and Owen dumped him, and then gets his head bashed in by Liz and is made to look like the town crazy man who kidnapped the boy. (I mean, yes, that was nuts. He should not have kept him hidden. But he didn’t outright kidnap him. He second hand kidnapped him, which doesn’t make it better, but still, I feel for the guy and hate the way it ended.)
Plus what does the title have to do with the story? The last thing she (Liz) did was tell the truth? I could think of 10 better titles than this one.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
⚠️ CW: child death, murder, suicidal ideations, alcoholism, violence, brief mention of abortion ⚠️ If you're looking for a psychological thriller that will make you question your own morality then this one is for you! The community along Oregon’s Deschutes River is one of successful careers and perfect families. For years, Liz and Owen have admired their good friends and neighbors, Carole and David. They appear to have it all, security, happiness and a beautiful young son, Charlie. But then he vanishes without a trace, and all that seemed safe is shattered by a tragedy that is incomprehensible; Except to Liz. It took one fleeting moment for her to change the lives of everyone she loves. As two marriages crack and buckle, Liz retreats into her own dark place of guilt, escalating paranoia and betrayals that even she can’t imagine. Yet little does she know there’s a good neighbor who has his own secrets, pain and reasons for watching her every move. And only he knows that the mystery of the missing boy is far from over. This book was a good fast paced read that really held my attention throughout with the plot, and whilst I enjoyed it I didn't care for any of the characters unfortunately (minus the little boy obviously). I found them all too self centred and just generally disliked them but thankfully the plot and story development saved it. I loved how it really made you think about what you would do in that situation while considering if the other factors that were at play would sway you. Overall, I think this was a good read and I recommend it if you don't mind books that have very few 'morally good' characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder
Minor: Abortion
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail