Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Mystery/Psychological Thriller
Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
“Twenty
years ago, Kate Cranbrook’s eyewitness testimony sent the wrong man to prison
for rape and murder. When new evidence exonerates him, Kate says that in the
darkness and confusion, she must have mistaken her attacker’s identity.
She is
lying.
Kate would
like nothing better than to turn her back on the past, but she is trapped in a
stand-off with the real killer. When a body turns up on her doorstep, she
resorts to desperate measures to free herself once and for all from a secret
that is ruining her life.”
Description:
“Elizabeth
Buhmann is originally from Virginia, where her first novel is set, and like her
main character, she lived several years abroad while growing up. She graduated
magna cum laude from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and has a PhD
in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. For twenty years, she worked
for the Texas Attorney General as a researcher and writer on criminal justice
and crime victim issues. Elizabeth now lives in Austin, Texas, with her
husband, dog, and two chickens. She is an avid gardener, loves murder
mysteries, and has a black sash in Tai Chi.”
Appraisal:
In 1986, a man was murdered. I was
beaten and raped. The ensuing trial dominated local headlines until my
eyewitness testimony sent a man named Jules Jefferson to prison for life.
I lied.
You what?
Oh, my.
Common
wisdom says an author should grab the reader from the first few words, which is
correct (or at least a good idea if you don’t want to lose too many readers).
But that same advice says the way you do that is with action or conflict of
some kind. I’m not sure these first words fit any of the most touted techniques
for grabbing a reader’s attention, but they sure did mine.
From those
first words we slowly learn what happens when Jefferson, convicted based on the
narrator Kate’s testimony, is exonerated based on DNA evidence as she tells her
side of the story. I’m hesitant to go into any kind of detail for fear of a
spoiler other than to say that despite knowing from the outset that Kate knew
she lied (and therefore must have some clue what the truth is) that each new
revelation changed my perception of where the story was going, right up to the
very end. A well written, unpredictable story. You’ll love it.
FYI:
A small
amount of adult language.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues
Rating: ***** Five stars
3 comments:
Sounds like a very interesting book. I will have to check this out.
I hope you realise that you're feeding my addiction... I think it's called enabling. ;-)
I love being an enabler, Vicki. :)
You aren't the first person to accuse me of that.
Post a Comment