Goodreads

Release date: December 5, 2023

Publisher: Graydon House

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

ON ASHER LANE, SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH KILLING FOR…

Simone’s mother was murdered when she was thirteen. When her father was convicted, everything changed. Overnight, Simone went from living in a wealthy white neighborhood to scraping by.

Ten years later, Simone has given up on her dreams and lives a quiet life, writing book reviews and getting serious with her boyfriend. But with a true crime documentarian hounding her for a scoop and a surprise encounter with her childhood next-door neighbor, Hunter, the past seems set on haunting her. And after Hunter reveals that his father and her mother had a years-long affair, Simone is determined to find out who really killed her mother.

Simone is convinced that all evidence points to Hunter’s father, a renowned judge who had everything to lose if his affair—and his nascent love child—came to light. Playing the game from all sides, Simone enlists Hunter’s help in her investigation into his family—whether he realizes it or not. But is she so desperate for closure that she’ll risk imploding her carefully rebuilt life?

Review:

This one was a little all over the place for me, I think it needed to pick a lane and stick with it instead of toeing the line. At times it felt like I was reading a romance book with toxic drama and then others it felt like I was reading a good case suspense novel. (Super light on the suspense) The failure to distinguish between what it was trying to do lost me unfortunately, but despite debating putting it down I did finish it. That always makes me think there’s something about the authors writing that kept me captivated so gotta give credit there. The suspense aspect fell flat for me as well as I found the twist to be predictable and easy to see coming. I did like the way the author discussed race in relation to criminal cases and found their observations and commentary to be sharp but overall this just wasn’t for me.

Overall rating: 3/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.