- format: e -book available through Libby
- ISBN-10 : 0143785443
- ISBN-13 : 978-0143785446
- Published 2017, Penguin e-books
- 274 pages
Synopsis (Sisters in Crime)
When Laura West was murdered, Julie gained everything – her husband, her child, her house. Now, Julie West lives the good life. She is mother to 3yr old Alice and married to Matt, a charismatic professor of psychology. Yet Julie is stifled, by the memory of Laura, by the demands of being a trophy wife, and by constantly trying to wrest her husband’s attention from the young women who flock to his lectures. Julie’s escape is in running, and one morning in the forest on Kellers Way, she is forced to dive out of the way of a crashing vehicle. Then the dying driver gives her a chilling warning…
Things get busy for Detective Mel Carter when her partner goes on holidays. Just two weeks apart there’s a fatal road crash and then the discovery of human remains, both on Kellers Way. Mel discovers that the murder of Laura West is not a closed case and that the trail of clues is not as clear as she had thought. Is the obvious suspect really the murderer? Or has an innocent person been condemned?
My Take
Although Megan Goldin lives in Melbourne this psychological thriller is set in small-town North (?) Carolina. The basic theme is how much our memories can be manipulated either by drugs or verbal means. That is what Julie's husband Professor Matt West does his research in and what he lectures in. In Julie's world whole days pass when she is "not well" and she remembers almost nothing. There are times when she hardly remembers Matt's first wife Laura, and other times when she wonders if she had a hand in her death.
The reader sees the world mainly from Julie's point of view but there are many inconsistencies and glimmers of something else. Matt is insistent she takes her medication to keep on an even keel, but when she doesn't Julie feels that she wakes up clear-headed and in control.
This is a book that will get your book group talking - particularly about the ending. The author has provided questions and an "interview" to help you along.
My rating: 4.6
About the author
Megan Goldin is the author of THE ESCAPE ROOM, a 2019 thriller that Lee Child called "one of my favorite books of the year" and Harlan Coben called "thrilling and unforgettable". Megan's latest novel THE NIGHT SWIM was released in August 2020. Before becoming a novelist, Megan worked as a reporter covering the Middle East and Asia for the Reuters news agency, the Associate Press and the ABC as well as other news outlets.
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