Reviews - It's One of Us | The StoryGraph

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As a warning, the main character has had multiple miscarriages and that plays a huge part in the story. According to the author's note, this is something she has personally experienced. Others with the same experience can judge how well the author uses this in the story.

What I don't appreciate is the way abortion is treated in the story. Further spoilers follow, but I'll try to limit them.

The book is written in multiple POV fashion, so each narrator has their own perspective on what is happening. One character has had an abortion in her past. She only addresses it directly in the narrative twice, but the language used is violent, and the character expresses regret and guilt, and that remains in the background as relevant as the story unfolds.

While statistically this level of guilt and regret, the kind that leads to people feeling like they deserve to be punished, is relatively uncommon among women who have abortions, I could forgive the author for this if she had established a foundation for it in the character. She did not. There is no mention of any religiosity of any character in the story, nor any other basis for this character to be so judgmental of her choice. In fact, this character is drawn in a way that makes it hard to believe she would carry anything but gratefulness that such an option was available to her. Her apparent guilt just doesn't fit with who she is otherwise. Likewise, the character's friend who has known about it since it happened makes no effort to normalize this choice with her friend in adulthood. That is just so outside of what I've seen in women's friendships. So the only explanation I can think of is that the author herself has imposed her views here, but why? Does she not know the harm this can cause her readers?

People entering this story knowing that miscarriage and infertility are major themes are trusting the author to deal with such issues with tenderness and compassion but then are blindsided by an out-of-left-field and not especially subtle condemnation of abortion. And it is especially egregious because the D&C procedure mentioned as part of a memory the main character is having about one of her miscarriages is talked about with a completely different tone. This is the same procedure used for abortions! I'm sure the author must know this, so I'm just at a loss about why it was necessary to stigmatize the abortion.

I would have given four stars because I can deal with heteronormativity in a mystery/thriller and it's a good story that is well written except.... Except for the very pesky way that white patriarchy permeates, not the least of which is the way abortion is treated.