My Never Ending List

They were watching out of the window, watching as the adults buried something underneath the apple tree that grew out of their yard. Suddenly, one of the three young children spoke, their innocent voice breaking the silence, speaking what they all three felt, who would be next?

It is now more than thirty years later and the novel begins at Day One of a murder investigation. Susan Sullivan has been found dead at a church by the woman who came to clean it. Susan was supposed to meet someone there but who and what they were meeting over is not given and the detectives assigned to the case are just as lost as I am. It isn’t long before another body is found and this time it is James Brown and he is found hung from an apple tree. Inspector Lottie and her partner Boyd try to find a connection with these two bodies while their Superintendent breathes down their necks. The story starts to get interesting as the pathologist discovers a similarity with the two bodies and I am connecting them to the children staring out the window. Where is this third child and will they be the next victim? As Lottie is working on the case, she realizes they are connected to St. Angela’s, a group home that existed years ago, which is now being redeveloped into a multi-million-dollar project. This information blew the story wide open. Filled with lies, deceits, missing individuals and just a bit of romance, this novel had a full cast of characters who gave Lottie and her department a case they will be talking about for years.

I found that I liked the character of Lottie. She was real. There were times when she was over her head and she knew it, she was balancing her career with being a single parent. She was dealing with her relationship with her mother and a relationship with Boyd, which he wanted and I think she wanted to some extent but she knew she had enough to handle at the moment. I liked that she stuck herself out at times, she pushed the envelope when she knew she shouldn’t, and in the back of her mind she was always thinking of her children. I liked that the novel started out strong and it ended strong. I liked how everything was confusing, how there were different stories taking place throughout the novel and how they were all yet connected. I thought it had a climactic ending. It was almost too perfect how it all came together on those last pages. I enjoyed this novel and I am looking forward to reading more about Lottie in her upcoming novels.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.