Anna, newly
divorced, lives with her angry teenage daughter. Neither is happy in
the tiny New York apartment. The daughter blames Anna for the
divorce, and Anna is desperately lonely. One night she attends a
singles party, goes home with a man who at first appears attractive,
and pushed beyond her endurance by his sexual advances bludgeons him
to death. She has no memory of the crime and goes on with her life.
Detective Bernie
Bernstein catches the murder case. He is estranged from his wife and
special needs son and locked out of his house. One night he attends a
singles party where he meets Anna. They develop a relationship that
is important to both of them. However, much as Bernie tries to
ignore it, the murder is there in the background.
This is a very dark
tale of a woman damaged by divorce, trying to remake her life. The
murder is no secret to the reader from the first pages, but the
development of a sustaining relationship and how it is affected by
the murder make a good plot.
The writing is good,
but I found the characters sad and depressing. The opening chapters
in which we see Anna in her dreary life are the worst. Once Bernie
enters the scene, things pick up for her, but the lurking fact of the
murder is never far from the center of the story.
If you like a
psychological mystery, you'll enjoy this book.
I reviewed the book
for Net Galley.
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