I must admit right away that I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. I found it to be an okay debut novel, but I thought too much of the plot was culled from the author’s suppositions about what happened to JonBenet Ramsey. There are spoilers about the solutions and lack of ending below, so be warned, if you don’t want to know what happens don’t keep reading.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
Plot Summary:
Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.
When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembered: genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January’s murder once and for all.
But the police, the family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night?
My Review:
2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars
Ok debut, but sudden ending that totally felt unfinished. Didn’t really grab me, nothing really surprised me.
I think I expected a lot due to the author’s history as a journalist and crime podcast producer, and maybe I would have liked the book more had I not known her background. As it is, this is the story of journalist Margot, who returns to her small hometown in Indiana because her uncle who raised her is suffering from progressing dementia. When she was six years old, the little girl across the street was abducted and murdered, the case went unsolved. Soon after Margot arrives, another little girl goes missing in the area. Margot sees connections and is determined to investigate. Are they really connected?
What I liked:
I’m always a fan of cold case stories and those of missing people. The mystery aspect compelled me to keep reading.
What I didn’t:
This is so similar to JonBenet Ramsey’s case. Too many similarities and possibly the writer pushing her agenda of what she thinks happened with that one.
Like I said before, there really aren’t any surprises, and if there are, there’s not enough suspenseful tension built up to make the reader care about the identity of the villain(s).
The character development just isn’t there with any of the characters. Although we get a past storyline and a present one, they aren’t fleshed out very well to provide enough of a background to connect with anyone.
And where I could forgive all of that and still say this was a halfway decent first book attempt, what I can’t get past is the non-ending. You have Margot confronting someone and then…it just ends. I felt like something was left off, I actually turned back in my kindle to see if I accidentally skipped some pages, but no. This is the reason for me rounding down. Give me an ending, don’t just make things all ambiguous.
I may read something else Flowers writes to see if she develops her skill as a book writer with more practice.
SPOILERS BELOW!
There are a couple of different mysteries in this book. First are the present day murders which made Margot think of January’s murder way back in her childhood. She thinks the two might be connected despite the many years between them. It turns out that they are not connected.
January’s Death Explained
Margot’s Uncle Luke (also known by his high school friends as Dave) was the father of the twins. When Billy, who thinks he is their father, finds out, he decides to kill his wife Krissy. He thinks she is downstairs in the basement so he is trying to lock her down there but he accidentally knocks January down the stairs. She survives but is hurt so he kills her. Jace saw her and thought she was cold so he covered her with her blanket, which is where Krissy came in.
Krissy thought young Jace had killed January, so she hid the body and later dumped it. Eventually Billy kills Krissy as well and it looks like a suicide.
Who Killed the Others?
All of the other murders, including Natalie, the girl who sparked Margot’s investigation, were committed by Elliott Wallace, a man who had been on the police’s radar. Margot and Krissy’s lover Jodie break into his storage unit and find evidence that he killed all of them.
When Margot goes to tell Billy that the case has been solved, she puts together that January wasn’t killed by Elliott (some convoluted thing about the blanket). Billy believes that Margot knows he killed January, so he also reveals he killed Krissy. Then he goes after Margot and…fade to black. No ending. No closure.
So that’s it! Again, due mostly to the non-ending and a lot of really convenient coincidences, I gave this book 2 stars. However, there are many people who loved this book, so do check it out for yourself if you haven’t already!
I really hated that non ending to ok. I thought it gotl left out of the recording. I will just end it the way I want it witg Margo heqd butting him in the nuts and his falling down those staies 5
That is a good ending!