Author: Karen Dionne
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Year of release: 2020
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Release date: 11th August 2020
Rating
Trigger warning Strong descriptions of Animal cruelty
Synopsis
Most of us have read about or known of people who have been imprisoned unjustly for years or even decades. But what if you discovered that you had unjustly imprisoned yourself?
After spending 15 years in a mental hospital as a self-inflicted punishment for her childhood crime, a young woman learns that she might not have killed her mother as she has always believed.
Review
Rachel Cunningham lives in a psychiatric facility has done for 15 years, nowhere else is suitable given at the age of eleven Rachel took a rifle and shot her mother killing her instantly. The police ruled the deaths of Jenny and Peter Cunningham a murder suicide, the police and other health care professionals Rachel has dealt with over the years think she is innocent, but they’ve got it wrong, Rachel doesn’t deserve a good life or a happy life, how could she? Her parents are dead because of her, she shot them, she remembers.
Rachel keeps herself closed off from most of the other residents and staff her only friend is the spider in her cell, it’s not until Rachel meets with a reporter who shines a new light on evidence that might just prove Rachel really is innocent; after all, can she prove it to others? Herself included? And perhaps find out if she really is her parents’ killer at all?
A synopsis that asks more questions than it answers and covers, that demands attention is always a sure way to hook this reader.
My first Karen Dionne book I was instantly drown into the story of the Cunningham family thanks to Dionne’s writing, it felt clear very early on the author knew exactly where this story was going; it doesn’t skip a beat nor does it fade out at any point on the suspense factor, in fact it becomes that book you have to finish.
I found the use of the dual perspective another reason why this book has such a magnetic pull, when I was reading Jenny’s point of view which is from the past however, I wanted to be with Rachel in the present day (2019) and vice versa. Thanks to the two-decade gap between Jenny and Rachel’s POV (Point of view) I was able to connect to all the characters and their individual personalities, rather than feel as if some were just passing through or just there to fill a gap.
As for the characters I found most of them to be somewhat average but looking back on this I believe that was to put a spotlight on just how chaotic Diana is; and as much as I grew to hate her as the story progressed as a reader, I was truly fascinated to discover what she would do next. How far would she go?
“All will become known, the raven promised. Things are not as they seem, the spider warned. Remember, the Raven’s mate urged.”
Rachel makes for a pleasant narrator, but I was not sold on her as not having a bee in her bonnet and I’m well aware she had eleven years with therapists at her disposal and plenty of time to people watch. I think it feels as if she spends a lot of time over analysing every situation and the other people, this was unbelievable and off putting given what’s at stake, she’s not a therapist. This is the reason I’m only giving 4 stars.
I also had to wonder how much to believe when it comes to her memory recall, eleven years have passed but she remembers every little detail of her childhood perfectly. Most people remember bits and pieces.
Jenny was a fearless mother and I understand her hesitation when it comes to dealing with certain events in the book, but at the same time I was super frustrated at the outcome due to her lack of action.
The ending was part wow and a little disappointing in my opinion.
Highly recommended for readers of Mystery, Thriller, Suspense