Synopsis
Fifteen years ago, Lilith Wade was arrested for the brutal murder of six women. After a death row conviction, media frenzy, and the release of an unauthorized biography, her thirty-year-old daughter Edie Beckett is just trying to survive out of the spotlight. She’s a recovering alcoholic with a dead-end city job and an unhealthy codependent relationship with her brother. Edie also has a disturbing secret: a growing obsession with the families of Lilith’s victims. She’s desperate to see how they’ve managed—or failed—to move on. While her escalating fixation is a problem, she’s careful to keep her distance. That is, until she crosses a line and a man is found murdered. Edie quickly becomes the prime suspect—and while she can’t remember everything that happened the night of the murder, she’d surely remember killing someone. With the detective who arrested her mother hot on her trail, Edie goes into hiding. She’s must get to the truth of what happened that night before the police—or the real killer—find her. Unless, of course, she has more in common with her mother than she’s willing to admit…
Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, IN HER BONES features Moretti’s “riveting and insightful” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author) prose and “chillingly satisfying” (Publishers Weekly) twists, and will leave you questioning the nature of guilt, obsession, and the toxicity of familial ties.
My Review:
“She could charm the pants off a snake. She looked at you like you were the only one in the room. Like you were interesting. She was just so goddamn interested in everything you had to say. In my whole life, no one has ever thought I was that funny, that smart. She made you feel like a hero, you know? She was damaged, too, you could tell. That combination, though? Beautiful, damaged, and intensely interested? It could lure anyone. People forget that, when they talk about her. That she was pretty.”
Thriller fans, this one’s for you! Smart, fast-paced and engaging, ‘In Her Bones’ had me guessing until the very end. If ever a book would make a great movie, this is the one!
This book examines the families that a psychotic killer has left behind. Both the victims’ families and the family of a convicted killer have suffered in many different ways. There is also a book-within-a-book here, as Edie, the daughter of the killer, struggles to find out which anonymous author could have written such a story about her family.
Lilith Wade was convicted for a series of vicious murders of six women. She left behind not only the grieving families of the victims but her own two children, Edie and Dylan, who had grown up with a psychotic mother and a mostly-absent father. Edie is now an adult and shuns the spotlight. But she is obsessed with the victims’ families and has developed skills at talking them online.
“Your life is more open than you think. You think you’re safe. You have neighborhood watches and room-darkening drapes, password-protected computers, alarm systems, and garage codes that are absolutely not your firstborn’s birthday. Even with all that, it’s practically there for the taking. Anyone can find out anything about you, and sometimes, if they ask the right way, you’ll just tell them.”
A recovering addict, Edie has her own secrets to hide. But when one of the family members of the victims is murdered, Edie becomes the prime suspect. She must race against time to find the real killer and uncover long-buried truths from her past. On her trail is the smart police detective who helped put her mother away and Edie must stay one step ahead of him.
Is it possible that Edie committed the murder herself? She was blackout drunk. Who is the real killer? I loved Edie from the very beginning and felt a huge sense of empathy towards her. Her past slowly reveals itself and the story took many poignant turns.
“There are no coincidences. Lilith said this, mostly in the throes of paranoia when she believed the FBI was monitoring her telephone lines. It can be disarming how many of my major life moments are internally narrated by my mother.”
I really enjoyed this thriller and was totally surprised at the conclusion. I devoured this story in one sitting and was completely taken aback by the clever twists and turns. I love Kate Moratti’s style and can’t wait to see what she dreams up next.
“Everyone ignores what they know to be true, when the truth is inconvenient.”
(With thanks to the publisher for a review copy.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kate Moretti is the New York Times bestselling author of The Blackbird Season, The Vanishing Year, Thought I Knew You, and Binds That Tie. She lives in eastern Pennsylvania with her husband and kids. Find out more at katemoretti.com