I liked this book SO much more than I thought I would. When I first learned of it, possibly here on CBR, and read the description on Amazon, it did not appeal to me. But the book is so much better than the description leads you (or me, at least) to believe.
The main character is Melissa, who comes home from work one day to find her 3 children standing by her husband, Patrick, who is lying unconscious on the floor after having been stabbed. You know right from page 1 that one of the children did it, but you don’t know which one and none of the kids will explained what happened.
Most of the chapters are from Melissa’s 3rd person POV but occasionally there’s one in first person from the child who did the stabbing, though for the most part you don’t get enough information to determine who did it. There are also a few chapters that show an exchange of Facebook comments on a group page dedicated to the close-knit (and rather judgmental) community where Melissa’s family lives.
I thought the pacing was great, in terms of how and when information was revealed and new mysteries came to light and developed. There’s also a slow progression from the beginning of the book, when Patrick appears to practically be a saint, to the end as his character flaws (to put it mildly) are slowly revealed. I read this book in 3 days. I stayed up late reading it, and one night I got up in the middle of the night to read it. It was that gripping. I really wanted to know what happened – who had done it and why, but mostly why. I found the explanation satisfying, though sad, and I thought the conclusion was well done. Definitely recommend.