When Libby Day was seven years old she witnessed the brutal and bloody deaths of her mother and two older sisters. She manages to escape, suffering injuries of her own and lives to tell the tale, including telling authorities that it was her older brother, Ben, who did the slayings. Twenty-four years later Libby is still haunted by that night and can’t seem to move on with her life. When her lawyer informs her that the money that was donated to her as a result of her tragedy is running dry, Libby starts looking for alternative streams of revenue and one group seems more than willing to help her out.
From the first page this book had me hooked. Extremely well written, Ms. Flynn gets us into the minds of essentially our three main characters; Libby, her mother Patty, and Ben. The story switches from Libby’s point of view to Patty and Ben’s on the day of the murders. All the characters are fairly well developed, particularly Libby. When we first meet her she is suicidal, walking about life like a ghost and to a degree unmotivated to make a better life for herself. Yet, as the story progresses, we see Libby grow and mature, starting to take some ownership for the mistakes she has made in life and pushing herself to explore questions that had previously made her uncomfortable, which takes a lot of strength. On the same topic though a slight deviation, how Libby conducts herself when first meet Lyle and his group of investigators is beyond admirable! I personally found the whole group to be infuriating as they disregarded Libby’s own experiences and yet Libby handled it with slightly more grace than I would have. So bravo to Libby.
As Libby attempts to uncover the truth behind the murders, we get flashbacks to Patty and Ben and the events that are building up to the murders. I felt great sympathy for Patty and what she was dealing with, particularly with her son. Like any parent she wants to believe her son is good and wouldn’t do anything to hurt someone, but she is presented with some pretty troubling evidence that would be hard for anyone to swallow. At the same time, Ben is a bit sketchier. He is clearly suffering and looking for acceptance, but the reader is left with some questions about him and why he is doing the things he is. I also wanted to take him by his shoulders and shake some sense into him, especially during the murders. If he had enough strength and self confidence then the ending might have been different.
The reason why I did not give this book a full five stars is because of the ending. Throughout the story we are led to a lot of other possible suspects but they all seem to come to dead endings, leaving the reader wondering who could have killed Patty and her daughters? Maybe it was Ben after all. When what actual happens occurs I was left a bit disappointed. The explanation Ms. Flynn gives seemed a bit of a cop out and I found myself roll my eyes at it. In fairness the explanation does make sense but I was expecting a much better punch at the end than what I got.
Overall this is a quick read that will help get you out of a reading slump but just be aware that the ending might not live up to the expectations that are built throughout the story.
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