Finished Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin. I received a copy for review.
Summary (from Goodreads):
“When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it’s a business matter. It’s not. Quentin’s podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin’s own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.
Robin thinks Quentin’s claim is absolutely absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin’s beloved parents are the one absolute she’s always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet trolls. She knows her mother better than anyone—or so she believes. But all that changes when, in an apparent home invasion, Robin’s father is killed and her mother’s life hangs in the balance.
Told through the eyes of Robin, podcaster Quentin, and a series of letters written by fifteen-year-old April Cooper at the time of the killings, Never Look Back asks the question:
How well do we really know our parents, our partners—and ourselves?”
I apologize because it is going to be next to impossible to share any more about the book without risking spoilers.
What I can tell you is that this is an incredibly intense story that’s full of red herrings and complicated characters. Everyone here is nuanced and no one is 100% hero or villain.
It’s the perfect summer read (especially if you like true crime podcasts, but even if you don’t, I don’t think it will ruin your enjoyment). I also think this will cement Alison Gaylin as a must-buy author for a ton of actively literate people.
Highly recommended.
KellyVision 