NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Saturday, April 21, 2018

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

"You can't believe people when they look you in the eyes. You gotta look behind them. See what they're standing in front of. What they're hiding."

Maggie Ippoliti Alderson is married to a widower, Dr. Noah, and she's ectastic when she gets a call from her long absent 17-year-old daughter, Anna Desroches. Maggie had lost custody of the infant Anna due to post-partum psychosis. She hasn't seen Anna in all that time. Anna wants them to meet and soon it is arranged that she will come live with Maggie, Noah and Noah's son, Caleb. Anna's wealthy father has died, and she wants to make up for lost time. Maggie and Noah help Anna move in and everything is finally as Maggie has dreamed -- until it all starts to go wrong. The next thing they know, Anna is dead and Noah is on trial for her murder.

The narrative starts at trial and goes backward in time with present day interspersed. Courtroom action, family disintegration, emotional pain and bewilderment as the happy family implodes. But it's not over, yet...NO SPOILERS

With an unusual twist that almost completely defies belief, the story concludes in a very unexpected way given all the events that transpired. The denouement took the book in a completely different direction to what was anticipated. Not sure I bought it, but I was definitely glued to the pages. Some of what transpired was hard for me to buy, but I did enjoy the action, the drama and the writing even it didn't ring plausible. I love a good legal thriller and all the legalese, but this ended up more being a bit off of that path. I'll continue to read books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-book ARC to read and review.

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