Nobody cuts deeper than family…Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child … mother to the child she thought she’d lost forever, her only daughter Anna.
Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.
Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna’s murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.
Riveting and disquieting, After Anna is a groundbreaking domestic thriller, as well as a novel of emotional justice and legal intrigue. And New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline will keep readers on their toes until the final shocking page
Praise for Lisa Scottoline:
“Scottoline keeps the pace relentless as she drops a looming threat into the heart of an idyllic suburban community, causing readers to hold their breath in anticipation.” —Booklist on One Perfect Lie
“Readers can be assured that the author nails the high school milieu, from athletic rivalries to sexting…they’re in for one thrilling ride.” —Kirkus on One Perfect Lie
”Entertaining…This fast-paced read culminates in a daring chase that would play well on the big screen.” —Publishers Weekly
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After Anna by author Lisa Scottoline will have you on the edge trying to guess who killed Anna! This is a family drama with suspense and mystery. I do not want to post spoilers but the twists in this story are thrilling. The plot of the book is set in the courtroom as Dr. Noah Alderman is waiting for the verdict to be read which will determine if he goes free or goes to prison for the murder of his step-daughter, Anna. The format of the story goes in reverse as the events are remembered. If you are reading the book or Kindle format, this is great, but if you are listening with Audible or a TTS reader, it gets confusing.
Maggie is married to Dr. Noah Alderman and has a very happy family life with Noah and his son Caleb. Maggie had been married before when she was younger, but six months after her beautiful baby daughter was born, she had a breakdown with an extreme postpartum depression and psychosis. She lost physical custody of her daughter, Anna, when she was deemed unfit to care for the baby. Her former husband Florian took baby Anna and went to France. Now seventeen years later Maggie receives a call from Anna and she wants to meet her mom! Maggie is ecstatic with joy but also has misgivings about how Anna will react to the information that Maggie had been in a mental institution for the depression and psychosis after giving the baby to Florian years ago.
Now the book really gets interesting and the layers of mystery start to unfold about Anna, Maggie, and Noah. Hold on to your seat as you read because it gets a bit bumpy along the way!
No, I just cannot tell you more…but read for yourself and be surprised!
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After seventeen long years, Maggie has heard from her estranged daughter, Anna. Anna was taken from her Mom, when she was an infant due to postpartum psychosis.
Anna wants to come home and leave the private boarding school her father had put her in while he travelled the world. Her father is also now dead.
Maggie is happily remarried to a wonderful man, Noah, who is a Pediatrician and has a ten year old boy, Celeb who Maggie loves dearly.
All Maggie can think about, is being reunited with her daughter, and pleasing her.
Through the many twists and turns of this novel, and there are so many- Maggie will choose Anna and forfeit her life as she has known it.
*I disliked and still dislike Maggie*.
I enjoyed this book and it really has an amazing plot.
I never was able to figure out the end until the very last chapter, and at that point I was just shocked!
Stepfather (Noah) accused of murdering his stepdaughter (Anna). Did he do it? Or, is there something more sinister at play? Perhaps “something darker than she ever could have imagined.”
After suffering from postpartum psychosis, an extreme form of postpartum depression, Maggie lost custody of her six month old daughter, Anna, to her ex-husband, Florian. Seventeen years later (after the tragic death of Florian, his wife, and kids), Anna reached out to Maggie, and both were beyond thrilled to reunite. After spending much of her childhood living at a boarding school, Anna was excited to have a “real” family. Unfortunately, as soon as she moved in with Maggie, her husband, Noah, and Noah’s 10 year old son, Caleb, Anna’s relationship with Noah was rocky, tumultuous, and volatile.
In fact, when Maggie asked Noah, “When did you turn into such a control freak? … Noah had an answer, except one that was unsayable: After Anna.”
Told in alternating timelines (aka “Before Anna” and “After Anna”) and perspectives (Maggie and Noah), this story follows Maggie’s reunion with Anna and Noah’s murder trial. If you enjoy courtroom dramas and twisty thrillers, then be sure to read After Anna!
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free advance copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Anna, Anna, Anna…she finally has come home to her mother, but what should have been a joyous occasion after seventeen years turns into a nightmare.
Anna and Maggie were apart for seventeen years. Maggie’s husband falsely accused her of abusing their infant daughter and took her away. Anna connected with her mother after her father was killed in a plane crash.
Maggie had remarried and lived with her loving husband, Dr. Noah Alderman. Everyone accepted Anna into the family even though Anna balked at their rules.
AFTER ANNA takes us back and forth in time as we follow the trial that has Dr. Alderman fighting for his freedom, and we are taken back to the days BEFORE Anna’s return and DURING Anna’s return home to her mother after seventeen years.
Anna had her mother believing everything she told her whether it was true or not, and Maggie was not believing anything her husband said about Anna.
I didn’t like Anna the moment I met her. Something just told me she was manipulative, cunning, and evil.
Ms. Scottoline has written another fantastic thriller filled with tension that will keep you on the edge of your seat along with characters that you will not like and some that you will want to tell to wake up and see what really is going on.
Everything was PERFECT until Anna arrived.
Do NOT miss reading this book. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
A real page-turner and twisted family drama. An entire family is disrupted when a daughter from a former marriage moves in with them and then ends up murdered. Who would kill Anna and why? Too many twists and turns and I can’t write too much in a review without giving away these secrets. The book is well-written with realistic characters and non-stop action.
Murder Most Foul
There’s a fair amount of tragedy in this tale of a mother reuniting with her daughter, but the twists, both in presentation and in plot, will keep you on your toes. The layout is unusual, alternating from traditional narrative in order of occurrence for events leading up to the trial and then the ten-day trial itself, which starts at the end, working backward day by day. When the two timelines intersect, things get *really* interesting! Some topical and disturbing themes are integral to the story but might constitute spoilers so suffice it to say the sum is more than the parts.
After Anna by Lisa Scottoline, it took me a few chapters to get into but once I got the hang of how they go between what happened and was happening before and what was happening and happened after, it was a pretty fast, consistent read. This book will keep you guessing and wondering right up to the very end! Lisa Scottoline has another good book under her belt! Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC book and give you my honest opinion.
After Anna was one of those books that you read and say whoa, I cannot believe the story line had such a twist! The story line alternates between past and present with Noah now on trial for the murder of Anna and that was pretty tense for me and I could see how things deteriorated quickly after Anna arrives back in Maggie’s life. I was so frustrated at times with Maggie but I get that she felt so guilty about not being in Anna’s life and felt that she had to prove her loyalty to Anna, even though it meant believing the absolute worst of her loyal husband. This book really made me think twice about how well do you really know anyone and could Noah be capable of murder, after all Anna caused him to lose everything that was so important to him.
This book is exactly what it promised to be ; a suspense filled thriller. I was completely blown away at the end when all was revealed, I never would have guessed! I have long been a fan of by Lisa Scottoline. This author never disappoints me with her page turners!
Maggie lost custody of her daughter Anna when she was a baby, due to postpartum psychosis. Maggie is now happily married to Noah, a pediatric allergist and his son Caleb. When Maggie’s ex-husband, his wife and their two young sons are killed in a plane crash Anna reaches out to Maggie. Anna moves in with Maggie, Noah and Caleb then the happy family starts to fall apart. Eighteen days after Anna moves in she is dead and Noah is on trial for her murder, but do the authorities have the right person? There are many twists and turns, I couldn’t put this book down. This is a must read thrilling page turner. Lisa Scottoline has written another winner!
Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Net-Galley and Lisa Scottoline for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book.
This was a quick read for me. Total reading time was about 3 hours. I enjoyed this story. It’s told in Dual POVs. Maggie’s and Noah. Before and After Anna. There is a couple twists in the story. One I had partially figured out but not completely. This is a page turner and had me sucked in. I am giving 4 stars because I found the ending to be lacking a bit. Thanks for another great read Lisa Scottoline.
If you like suspense, mystery, murder and mayhem, then you’ll love this book. The title is indicative that Anna has possibly come and gone and that Anna, or “something” could be torn. Which, in every effort, hits the nail on the head.
Plot Summary:
Dr. Noah Alderman remarries Maggie Ippolitti and they live very happily with Dr. Alderman’s son, Caleb. Maggie longs for her long lost daughter she hasn’t seen since infancy. Maggie unexpectedly gets another chance to be that mother to her long-lost daughter , Anna, even knowing it will change her and her husband’s lives. Little do they know that their life is fixing to become something absolutely horrific, Anna’s murder, to which Dr. Alderman is accused of. First, losing her daughter from murder, to her husband being the one accused of it. Finding new information, Maggie is driven to search for the truth, not only about her daughter, but about the accusations against her husband. With a race against time, will Maggie beat the clock? Will Anna survive? Will Noah survive? With a new horror facing her, Maggie is now lead on a journey to something even more horrific than she ever thought.
I like the book, itself, it was a wonderful read, but because of the way it’s written, I had a hard time getting into the book. I struggled, literally, until midway, when I reached a point that I didn’t want to put the book down. It took me three days to get to that point. I’m not sure if it’s how the author bounces back and forth between Noah’s view and Maggie’s view, but whatever it was, finally hooked me midway.
The one thing I absolutely loved was Caleb’s involvement. I truly LOVED how Caleb’s laughter was brought in at the end. It couldn’t have made for a better ending. I’m giving this book four stars because I did have such a hard time getting into the plot of the book. It really was a great read, but I feel it could have been more with a different format. I did love the author and will be following her and reading more of her books.
I received this digital copy in return for my honest review.
The premise of this story is interesting and had the potential to be a satisfying read. And while I appreciate backstory introductions were well done well, in this particular case Scottoline’s technique of jumping present to past (recent past scene, then further back, then present, then somewhere in the middle) seemed to keep me from connecting to her characters.
I have the feeling if told in chronological order, I would have had time to care that the husband was in prison, the wife distraught (never really conveyed), and as a reader, I would’ve noticed the daughter’s strange behavior within the story (in this case told by another character in backstory). But because I liked the writer’s imagination and her storyline, I’m on to read EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES with high hopes.
I’ve read many of her books, and this one did not disappoint. Terrific family and legal/courtroom drama. It was a gripping story with lots of mystery, many plot twists including the ending. Really enjoyed this unusual story which was not what I was expecting, in a good way!
I love all of Lisa’s books. This one definitely had me guessing til the end.
After Anna by Lisa Scottoline
April 2018
I received a digital copy of this ARC for review from NetGalley.
A suspenseful novel in true Scottoline style, providing twists and unexpected turns in plot. This story is narrated with alternating chapters from Maggie’s perspective “before” Anna and Noah’s perspective “after” Anna during his murder trial.
Maggie has almost everything she wanted with a new husband, Dr. Noah Alderman, a pediatric allergist and his 10 year old son, Caleb. Although she feels fortunate to have such a loving and caring new family, she can’t help but ruminate on her past transgressions.
She has many regrets for the postpartum psychosis she experienced after giving birth to Anna. Her marriage to Florian soon failed resulting in an acrimonious custody battle. Since Maggie last saw her daughter at 6 months old, she continued desperately to develop a relationship with Anna. Her affluent ex-husband had remarried and moved to France sending Anna off to fancy boarding schools.
One Easter Sunday, Anna receives an unexpected call from her daughter, Anna. Apparently, Anna has been stateside at a private high school Congreve in Maine. Her daughter, now 17 years old, wants to reconnect and meet her mother. Everyone is thrilled when Anna comes to live with them after her father is killed in a plane crash.
What begins as a wonderful reunion soon begins to disintegrate the once happy family when lies and deceit gradually emerge. There’s no way to prepare for the twists and turns this story will take as Noah stands trial for murder. Truths and lies become entangled making it difficult to decent who to believe.
This was my first Lisa Scottoline book. I read slowly at first, a couple of chapters at a time. I was caught up by mid-book and could not stop until I reached the end..
Imagine my surprise, that I was fully engrossed in the book and had to see what happened next…For a different reading experience, read this book.
Another great read from Lisa Scottolini. I couldn’t put it down.
I’ve grown bored with the Rosato & Denunzio series so this book is a refreshing departure. It’s Lisa Scottoline at the top of her game. The characters are very realistic and the story is an absolute page turner. There’s no hero and villain…you feel drawn to each of the characters and your heart breaks for all four of them until you begin to see Anna’s devious and manipulative behavior…and then your heart breaks for three of them. Lisa Scottoline has put her fine legal education to good use; this book was beautifully crafted. I recommend the audiobook version as there is a female narrator portraying Maggie in “Before” and a male narrator portraying Noah in “after; their voices are very clear and compelling. I found myself wanting to keep driving so I could find out “what happens next” and, at the same time, not wanting the story to end.
Couldn’t put it down, a real page turner.
This is a story about the complexity of a blended family. The excitement of reconnecting with a daughter that had been lost and the dynamics of bringing someone into the family that no one knows.
Lisa Scottoline writes in such a way that she grabs your attention and holds it. She deals with some difficult subject matters in this book and does it well. She is absolutely one of my favorite authors!
I usually would give this book five stars and really wanted to but couldn’t. The book goes back and forth in time with each chapter which made it a little difficult for me. The other issue I had was it had subject matter that made me uncomfortable and angry at times. It is a very good book, extremely well written, but unfortunately just not one of my favorites.