I purchased this book for my own personal collection.
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Published: November 10, 2020
Summary:
Three brothers are at the funeral. One lies in the coffin.
Will, Brian and Luke grow up competing for their mother’s unequal love. As men, the competition continues – for status, money, fame, women …
They each betray each other, over and over, until one of them is dead.
But which brother killed him?
My thoughts:
Liz Nugent is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I’ve read quite a few of her books now and have loved each one. I even had the chance to meet her recently, where I found out she starts all her books with the first sentence…not an idea or anything else, but the first sentence. I love that! And even before knowing that, I’ve always found her first sentence to be very strong…now I know why!
I’ve had this book on my shelf for quite some time…I got it after reading Unraveling Oliver but then time got in the way, so I was thrilled when my thriller book club picked it last month to read. And let me just say, we all loved it! Even though this is more family drama than thriller, it is so dark and twisted that I think thriller fans will still enjoy it.
This book is filled with unlikeable characters. It is a true dysfunctional family story but what I loved most is how the story is told and the mystery of who has been killed. We get each brother’s point of view, large chunks at first and then smaller and smaller as the book moves on. While at times this does lead to some repetition as the brothers look back at the same events, the author cleverly highlights the fact that memory can be a tricky thing. We can all be at the same place as someone else but have vastly different memories of that event due to personal experiences and feelings towards that event or the other people involved. And, time passed also has a way of affecting our memories, too.
As I moved through the book, I kept thinking I had worked out who was dead, only to realize, with a new revelation, that I didn’t have a clue. This book is so tightly plotted and cleverly mapped out and I could not have loved it more. Again and again I kept coming back to that first sentence as I was reading, mulling it over in my head. This book is one I know I will be thinking about for a long time and I love that and this is why Liz Nugent is a must-read author for me!
