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It’s Not Her
Mary Kubica
352 Pages
Harlequin Trading Co.
While I have always enjoyed thrillers, I have to admit that this is the first book by Mary Kubica that I have read. I doubt that it will be the last. It was a good solid suspense novel with many things to recommend it.
This was not a “slow burn” suspense novel, which is much of what I have been reading lately. This book started off with a bang; within the first chapter we find out that a couple has been murdered. Two families are vacationing together; one of the couples, parents to three, was found dead. One of the children is missing. They are at a lake, which is pretty much the perfect setting for this novel. Kubica keeps the reader guessing, revealing secrets about each person and about the families, that made us suspect almost everyone. Things were not as happy-go-lucky as the idyllic setting promises. There were family problems and dysfunction that made virtually every character a suspect.
One of the ways that Kubica builds up suspense is by using short staccato sentences to convey tension. I love it when an author is able to use writing style to convey mood. Kubica does this very well. She also tells the reader just enough to keep us guessing and wondering.
The story is told from two perspectives, one being Courtney, the female adult in the other family, which is in the present, and Reese, the missing teenager, in the past, leading up to the present. This was a bit confusing for me, even though the chapters were titled by name. It was a bit jarring to go from the present to the past and that was probably the one real negative for me. That, and the only character that was at all likeable was Courtney. Nonetheless, this was a compulsively readable thriller that I finished in two days.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel. All of the opinions expressed herein are my own.
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