CBR Bingo: Justice
I don’t want to give away the plot but let’s just say that the main characters definitely got what they deserved.
I don’t remember why I requested this book from the library. All I know is that I was on a very long waitlist to read it. When it arrived, I had no recollection of having requested the book and was not sure that I even wanted to read it. Wow am I glad that I did! This book kept me up late into the night. I simply could not put it down. It is the quintessential suspense novel, complete with a surprise ending (no spoilers here!).
We find out early that Lee (Ophelia) is a new mom, facing separation anxiety from her infant daughter, and also probably suffering from some post-partum depression. Her husband Theo is both empathetic and a complete jerk about about the whole thing. Her mother-in-law Jacqueline is condescending and controlling.
Lee is also the sole survivor of a doomsday cult. This seems to fuel her anxiety around her daughter, and also makes her sometimes conflate reality and fantasy, past and present. A new documentary is released about the cult that has the nation obsessed. When a woman shows up claiming to be Lee’s sister (whom Lee has not seen since they were both children), the story starts to unfold.
In the begining of the book I really did not like Lee. I actually did not like any of the characters, except the new next door neighbor (whom unfortunately we don’t really get to know much about but I really wanted to). But as the book progressed and I got drawn more and more into Lee’s situation, as frustrating a character as she continued to be I really wanted to help her out. As a woman, as a mom, I remembered those early days of motherhood that were exciting, daunting, and exhausting.
I won’t discuss any more of the book because I don’t want to give away the plot (and certainly not the ending). I will say that it has been a long time since I have read a thriller that has gripped me as much as this one has. Just remember not to read it too late and with all the lights on.
