Virginia is messed up. She drinks too much, takes pills, and avoids
her family. She’s the older sister and has always felt second best
to Jenny. Jenny, her younger sister, is the beauty queen, her
mother’s favorite. Then Jenny quits the pageant circuit and her
mother begins to fall apart.
The family disintegration really begins when Jenny is found murdered
and the family secrets threaten to be exposed. The rape and murder of
a thirteen-year-old pageant queen is big news, and the family is in
the spotlight. The primary suspect is an older man who has followed
all of Jenny’s pageants. Because of her own background, Virginia
doesn’t believe he’s guilty and sets out to find out what really
happened.
In this
psychological thriller, the focus in on the sisters. Chapters are
told in alternating points of view between Virginia and Jenny. I
thought this was a very effective presentation. We get a chance to
know both sisters. However, aside from the two girls, I thought there
were too many characters. This may have been designed to increase the
number of potential suspects, but for me it diluted the suspense.
The plot was easy to
follow. The murderer was obvious to me from fairly early in the
story. However, that may be because I read a lot of psychological
thrillers and this book followed the pattern. The ending does have a
twist, but if you already suspected the killer, it doesn’t work as
well as it might.
I received this book
from Dutton for this review.
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