I was very excited to immerse myself into this book's pages, and once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down. The characters were rich and complex, and Jones's writing style keep me turning pages. I'd say all in all it was a very good read . . . except for the ending. You see, the suspect in the murder was presented to you fairly quickly, and I kept expecting the "twist" to come up until the very end, but it didn't. Now this is not necessarily the author's fault. I think we've become so used to complex murder mysteries that we expect a twist, a whodunit, when the beauty in this read is the straight-forwardness in which the murderer is presented to you and the gradual unveiling of its cause and effect to these colorful characters from a small town. You learn throughout the story about these characters and their flaws, and I noted that many reviewers stated that this book is more of a character study than a murder mystery, and I'd agree. So if you're expecting a really good murder mystery, you'll probably be disappointed. If you like character studies, you'll be rewarded.
Given all that, my problem came with the ending. I felt that there were just a few too many unanswered questions. A little too many loose strings. This is not to say that we can't be left questioning and wondering. I don't think that things need to be explained in minute detail, however, I do believe a little more needed to be resolved to bring this book to a successful conclusion. I won't spoil this review with the specifics, but would be interested to see if you feel the same way I do after reading this book. It left me just a little let down. For a first novel though, I thought it was a great start and an interesting read.
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