whitneydaniell

by: Amber and Danielle Brown
published: December 5, 2023
genre: Thriller, Mystery
320 Pages, E-Book
Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis

When Simone runs into an old friend from her former neighborhood, her past comes rushing back at full speed. No longer able to run from the truth about what happened on Asher Lane, Simone is confronted with a stark and painful reality: Hunter Bishop—her former best friend, next-door neighbor, and now the key to reopening old wounds and unanswered questions about her mother’s death.

As Simone bounces between New Jersey and New York City, following a trail of lies in hopes of exonerating her father—who’s been convicted of her mother’s grisly murder—she also finds herself grappling with her current life and what it will take to survive everything unscathed.

When long-buried memories are reignited and new information comes to light, Simone is forced to make difficult decisions and face some harsh truths. But who can she trust? It’s just her and her father now, and she’s certain he’s innocent… or is he?

My Final Thoughts

I almost didn’t want to write anything about this book because I disliked it that much. You know the saying: If you don’t have anything nice to say… But buried in my mountain of thoughts, I might have some constructive criticism to offer the book-reading world.

From the beginning—even the opening chapter—I had no idea where this story was going or how the Brown sisters planned to land the plane. Chapter 1 felt nonsensical and irrelevant to the overall plot. Honestly, it was a waste of seven pages and who knows how many words. Then comes Simone’s meeting with Hunter, which drags on forever. The whole scene takes place in an elevator bank, and all I kept thinking was, That elevator has been held open too long—it would’ve started beeping by now!

I get that the authors needed to give some emotional backstory between Simone and Hunter to build trust and disarm the reader. But I didn’t need the tired trope of Simone’s racist experience with Hunter positioned as her white savior. For kids in school during the early 2000s, there were better, more nuanced ways to portray bullying than defaulting to racism. Speaking of which—there were a lot of racial overtones throughout the book that, to me, just didn’t fit. But I digress.

I’ve been doing this white man’s work while he’s trying to fuck you. Been calling him bro when I should’ve just called him master.

After the overly sentimental flashbacks, we move into the storyline involving Evelyn—Simone’s late mother—who somehow becomes the “mammy” or Black savior figure to the Bishop household. She leaves her job as a nurse to become a stay-at-home mom (even though Simone is around 8 years old), and instead becomes a home health nurse to Hunter’s grandmother, who suffers from dementia. The connection between the families felt forced and unnecessarily convoluted.

And let’s not forget the poor police work. Because of course, detectives in fiction never know how to properly investigate crimes.

For 90% of the book, Simone is laser-focused on one person as the real “suspect,” refusing to consider any alternatives—which is ironic, given that’s exactly what she accuses the police of doing to her father. By Chapter 14, I had it figured out. Honestly, I had an inkling back in Chapter 9, but I gave it time to simmer.

And then there’s Reggie. Oh, Reggie. Simone’s forgettable boyfriend, who she clearly doesn’t like and who adds nothing to the plot. Instead of Reggie, I wish she had a supportive roommate or a solid friend. He was useless. Speaking of “friends”—co-workers are not your friends and should always be handled with care. Simone, that was your own undoing. In the real world, that entire situation would have resulted in an EEOC complaint and a lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Who said any of this was supposed to be easy? Girl, all you do is make excuses. That’s your problem. You take so much shit for granted and you don’t even realize it. I know you’ve been through some shit, but now you have it so good. You’re pretty as hell, healthy, you have a rent-controlled apartment in a decent neighborhood and a good man. Do you know what I would do if I had someone like Reggie on my arm?

At this point, if I keep going, I’ll spoil the entire plot—and I’m not here to do that. I didn’t like the book. I wouldn’t read it again, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers or murder mysteries. I desperately wanted to DNF this one, but I took a full-day break and then powered through to the end.