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HIGH SEASON
Katie Bishop
St Martins Press
August 12, 2025
388 pages
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The past: A teenage girl was murdered in 2004 during her mother’s birthday party. The only eyewitness is her 5-year-old little sister. Another teen is convicted on the eye-witness testimony of a 5-year-old.
The present: In 2024 the maker of a True Crime Documentary decides that the case needs to be re-examined because how accurate could a 5-year-old’s testimony be? This opens up (WIDE) a whole new can of worms for the victim’s family, for the convicted murderer who is now out of jail, trying to rebuild a life, and many other people, remotely connected.
THE GOOD
1. Very intricate and well thought out plot.
2. The two main characters, Nina (the child witness) and Josie (the convicted murderer) are realistically well developed. They are both suffering trauma because of the past.
3. Not surprisingly, (considering the plot) there are secrets and lies.
4. I found it interesting how the “ordinary” people perceived the “privileged.” Or, using different wording, the Insiders vs. the Outsiders. The quotation marks are meant as Air Quotes.
5. The ending is VERY convoluted. But, it is satisfying.
THE BAD:
1. It was a hard story to get into. During the first 25 percent, it seemed like new characters were constantly being introduced, and I had trouble keeping them straight.
2. The maker of the documentary kept using the word “unalived” instead killed or murdered. And, because she considered herself going down a rabbit hole in her research, she called her audience “true little crime bunnies”. Both phrases grated on my nerves.
3. The characters seemed flat to me, very one-dimensional until the book was wrapping up. The two exceptions were the convicted murderer and the only eyewitness.
4. At almost 400 pages, the book is a bit too long.
I had to think about how to rate this book. If it had been easier to get into, I think it would have been 5 stars. The last 25% of the book was the best part, unravelling a lot of truths. But, there was too much evil for my comfort level. That might be a plus for some people. This is partly overturned by the fact that the last few pages showed hope and redemption.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
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