Book Review: "The Ex" by Alafair Burke
With my current manuscript for the first Court of Mystery novel off to my editor, I'm delighted to find the time to sit down and catch up on my summer reading list. I've been reading so many cozy mysteries of late, trying to understand the genre and what readers engage with, that I thought it was time to turn to a genre I absolutely adore: the psychological thriller.
Last summer I read numerous books that had me on the edge of my seat: Emma in the Night, In the Dark, Dark Woods, The Good Girl, The Butterfly Garden, The Girls in the Garden, Behind Closed Doors, etc. Alafair Burke (known to me as Mary Higgins Clark's partner in crime for the Under Suspicion series which I absolutely love) brings us The Ex, which ranks up at the top for one of the most engaging and riveting thrillers I've read of late. Burke weaves together complex characters in a heart-wrenching story filled with guilt, lies, and regret, which had me breathless until the last page.
The Ex follows Olivia Randall, a successful but unfulfilled criminal defense lawyer. For all the drama this book details, it also was a very interesting procedural read. I don't read lawyer-focused books very often, mostly because I get bogged down by the details of court rules, but Burke does a masterful job of explaining the process and moving the character development right along. Olivia is summoned to help Jack Harris, a well-known author and public figure in NYC, who also happens to be Olivia's ex-fiance for reasons unknown at the beginning of the novel.
Jack is accused of opening fire in a NYC park, killing three people, one being Malcolm Neely, the father of the (fictitious mass shooting event in the book) "Penn Station shooter". Jack's wife Molly was killed during the mass shooting, and Jack has become the face of the Penn Station shooter victims in their quest to see Neely pay for turning his 15-year-old son into a gun-loving monster.
With their intense romantic background, Olivia knows Jack is innocent and thinks she'll be able to get the case dismissed. Then the evidence starts to unfold and Olivia wonders if the Jack she knew twenty years ago could have turned into a killer.
With so many twists in the backstories of the characters, this book had me second-guessing everything everyone said and did to figure out the truth behind the case. While the ending is not really predictable, I had my suspicions leading up to the big reveal, providing the swell of satisfaction I love that I was able to piece together the clues along with the character. Burke lays them down like cookie crumbs, baiting you until the last page to get to the truth.
The Ex is a thoroughly enjoyable, engaging thriller, perfect for a summer's day at the beach. It wasn't so dark you get bogged down and bothered by it, but it was just right the level of angst and anxiety to drive the reader to the end as fast as they can. The Ex gets 6 out of 7 crowns, and I very much look forward to reading Alafair Burke's other standalone work while I wait for the next Under Suspicion novel!