An advance reader copy from work~while it looks quite good, there are so many tbrs here that I may or may not get around to it before it moves along.

Amazon Editorial Review

The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed standalones After I’m Gone, I’d Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in this evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.

Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to.

Selected from the vbb :)

Hope it's as good as it looks!

Received today... thank you, erishkigal!

A quick and easy read. Enjoyable, for the most part, but somehow I was hoping it would add up to a little more in the end than it did. I did not find the main character entirely likable and the ending was much more dark and depressing than I had expected.

The novel jumps back and forth in time between the main character's childhood and the present day. I often found myself more interested in one of those story lines than the other. Sometimes the jumps were slightly annoying as I just wanted to stay longer in whichever "world" I was currently reading about.

Having said all of that, this was my first Lippman and I would definitely read more of her. A good read, it just didn't blow me away.

Headed out to dvg in exchange for a wishlist book that she is sending me. Enjoy!

Arrived safely! Thank you for sharing this book with me. Can't wait to read it. Yours is on the way. :) You beat me to the PO. :)

I have read other Laura Lippman books and have enjoyed them all. This one, however, I must admit I struggled with it. It didn’t grab me at the beginning. It bounced from past/present day of the main character. Sometimes I wanted to day in a timeline longer than the author did. Overall, I enjoyed it but wish it was a stronger story. I would consider it a light read.

After reading a few reviews when I was done, several people noticed similarities to “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Now that I reflect, I do see them. Perhaps it is the author’s homage to a classic. Which would explain my reaction, the classic I struggled with as well.

Either way, I hope the next reader enjoys the story. I do like reading the reviews the come after, sometimes I wind up going “Ahhhh.” That is why I love BC, it’s a good book club discussion without having to be there.

Sharing with Bkind2books. Hope you enjoy! Happy Reading and Happy BookCrossing!

Thanks for sharing this with me. Looking forward to reading this!