Sequel is an absorbing mystery thriller.
I read Pieces of Her and watched the adaptation on Netflix and never quite liked either so I had a bit of trepidation when I saw this sequel. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this a lot more than the first that featured Andrea Oliver. Andrea's character was much more maturely portrayed and I was able to tolerate her behavior and the plot because of that.
The story takes place two years after the events in book one and has a much better premise. Andrea has just completed US Marshal training, her psychopath father is safely behind bars, and her mother is back home and barely in the picture. Shortly after graduation, Andrea is approached by her uncle because her father is going up for parole and everyone is concerned that this time he might actually get it. The uncle wants Andrea to take an assignment at Longbill Beach, ostensibly to protect a judge who is getting death threats, but really to investigate whether or not Clayton Morrow could have murdered a young, pregnant teenager there when he was in high school. That discovery would definitely prevent his parole.
Told in a dual timeline, one part is the voice of Emily Vaughn who was raped by one of her high school friends and became pregnant. Unable to identify the rapist or name the father of this baby, she tries to do a bit of sleuthing after being shunned by all of the hideous people in the small town of Longbill Beach. She is murdered on the night of Prom and the killer was never apprehended. The second voice is that of Andrea as she arrives in town and starts to look into the events from those 40 years ago and to do her current job with partner Catfish Bible. Met with a wall of silence and the same set of suspects, she also finds that two of them are partners in a successful fava bean company and have a sort of cult thing going on with young female volunteers. So, there's a lot going on in this book, but the author skillfully weaves it together and kept me guessing.
I would have preferred less of the Emily narrative and more focus on Andrea's activities, but it kept my attention and I'm glad I returned for this installment. I suspect there will be another in this series.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend. I do think it important to have read the first in the series to fully appreciate this one.
This is the second in series and it should be read in order.
Genre - mystery thriller
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