When you pick up this book, you expect only one story. That's not quite right. I wondered how exactly Judith Carrigan, a woman not spoken of as having been at the Penitentiary with the others, was supposed to help Casey out of the problem he was in. Then I read the book...and I understood. It's definitely better than I thought it was going to be.
I've known a few people who struggled with the same issue as Quentin. I still talk to a few to this day (One moved out to Arizona and we haven't been in contact for a while). Judith reminded me very strongly of one of them, and I can see how people connect.
I didn't quite understand what one half of the story had to do with the other, besides being the same characters. That was the only link between them after 35 years had passed. Everyone had pretty much moved on with their lives at that point. Judith didn't have to come back, she could have stayed where she was and just pretended like it never happened.
I picked this to read for part of a challenge (#43 - A book set in your hometown) as a substitute, because I'm pretty sure there are few, if any, books set in my hometown that are not any more than pamphlets. The only book I've ever seen that was known to be set in my town was "self-published" in that it was printed at the high school library and stapled together. Anyway, moving on, near the end of the book when she goes into New Jersey, I smiled. I've been to those places. I know them. I've spent many summers going through these places.
I thought Judith's struggle was something very close to home for a lot of people. Though her method of going about it was a little odd. I have no idea why she decided to take the route she did with the car in Nova Scotia. It was entirely unnecessary. I have never heard of anyone else doing it before. It was just bizarre.
My biggest issue with the book was Dudley's just....refusal to believe that Jon didn't do it. They wouldn't even entertain the thought that a 300+ pound man would not kill his wife the day they got married. No one is that dumb. No one. I also didn't like the fact that they just assumed what Krystal was doing that lead to this whole problem in the first place. Instead of going to him and asking what was going on or asking Ben, they just decided what had happened and then thirty-five years later, shit gets real.
I would probably have liked it better if Boylan had gone more into detail as to why Judith's life story after the incident was important. I liked that there were LGBTQ+ characters were included, I just didn't understand why.
I rated this book 4/5 stars and I think I'd likely re-read it (pending if KS gives it back....she wanted to borrow it). I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.
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