On a sweltering July morning in rural Tennessee, fifty-year-old Rebecca Reynolds visits the family farm, where she literally stumbles across the mutilated bodies of her parents and younger sister, a sister who had spent life in a wheelchair after a birth fraught with complications.Rebecca’s first thought is to call 911. Her second is to find her estranged sister, Lena, who was disowned by the … by the family years before. Her third is to wonder how long it will be before Lena is arrested for the murder of their family.
As the police gather evidence pointing to Lena, the sisters turn to attorney Brian Stone. Convinced of Lena’s innocence, he agrees to take on the case. But in a family ripped apart by dysfunction, is anyone truly innocent?
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In the July heat of Rural Tennessee, Rebecca Reynolds enters her parents’ house. The scene that she enters into is one that no one wants to enter, the death of her parents and her wheelchair-bound sister. Rebecca cannot help but think her only other living sibling Lena is the killer. Lena has been estranged from the family for decades and hates their parents. Despite not really believing in Lena’s innocence Rebecca gets Lena an attorney, which turns out to be Brian Stone. Brian may have his own problems but can he put them behind him and prove Lena’s innocence?
This book is very well written. There are several dark subject matters covered in this storyline. They are written in a realistic way without getting too graphic in the descriptions. The book is written mostly in the first person point of view, by having the chapters written in Rebecca, Lena, or Brian’s perspective with the occasional chapter in the perspective of a trial transcript. This gives the reader more insight into each main character thoughts and life, allowing the reader to determine what really happened to the Reynolds.
I listened to the audio version of this book from Audible. Narrator Michelle Babb does a fantastic job telling this story. She brings each character to life with excellent accents and tone of voice. She gives the story life, keeping the characters realistic without any over the top accents. She has great timing and diction, bringing an already great story to greater heights.
I recommend this book to fans of psychological thrillers and family dramas. I voluntarily agreed to read this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.
This review is for the audio book.
This is the first book by this author I have listened to but I enjoyed it and will keep an eye out for any more of her books, especially if it continues the story. The story is told by three characters and is about how each of them deals or reacts to a brutal killing of a family. Two are sisters and the eldest one finds the body of there parents and middle sister, the younger sister is the one accused of the killings and the third person is the lawyer hired to defend her. The story is quite slow to begin with but that is because it is explaining the reason for the kills to have taken place and building up the tension. It also contains a lot of transcripts as the case progresses in court but it also has you questioning what you think you know. It tugs on your heartstrings and makes you question why some people become parents or behave the way they do and I felt sorry for the middle daughter, proving the author was very clever with her writing making you care about a character that you didn’t even meet. Over all it is a good suspense novel.
Michelle Babb once again does an excellent job with the narration and is quickly becoming one of my favourite narrators because I haven’t found anyone else that can bring the characters to life and build up the tension like she can.