Tuesday, September 11, 2018

After Anna

Title: After Anna
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Published: April 10th 2018 by St. Martin's Press
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 388 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

The middle was slow; the last 100 pages were what made the book, but not sure why she threw in the very last part when there was no prepping the reader for it which ending up making it feel like a rushed afterthought. Then again, psychological thrillers tend to throw in bits and parts at the end to give the reader that final sense of closure.

Maggie Ippolitti and Noah Alderman appear to have the perfect life. Having met years after Maggie had given up custody of her daughter to her ex-husband, while she was battling postpartum psychosis, they have built a life with Noah’s son, only to have it shattered when seventeen year old Anna reappears and send the family into a spiraling turmoil.

A second chance is what Maggie wanted, unfortunately Noah is the brunt of this effort and when Anna accuses Noah of the unthinkable, Maggie runs to Anna’s defense only to find out that all things are not what they appear and as Noah is fighting for his life, it is only then that Maggie puts the pieces together and with the help of the local police, puts an end to their misery and able to knit their lives back together.

Told in alternating voices and timelines, the reader can, in a way, see where this is going since Lisa Scottoline loves a happy-ending, but getting there is the challenge. The book holds your interest for the first third, slows to a snail’s pace in the middle, and then the last 100 pages burst with the energy that was missing.

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