Thank you to Touchstone publishing for the free review copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This book explores the lives of three characters and how they react to the murders that are happening in their community around them. Bernard is of the generation of people being targeted, Amy is painting realistic crime scenes, and Maddie is intrigued by the man they say is the killer. 

Even though this book does have murders in it, the book explores a lot more than the murders. Instead, this book explores the characters and their lives and how their experiences have placed them in their current situations. I did like the back stories that were in the novel, especially Bernard's. I found his to be the most relevant and explained of the three characters. 

I wish that the author had developed Maddie more. I found while reading her parts that I was wanting more backstory. I wished that she had explored more of her relationship with her mother. I also wish the interest in the possible murderer was explained better. I feel like it was mentioned but never explained. 

Amy's story came together slowly, which I did like. It took me time to figure out why she was there, but once the story started picking up, it made a lot more sense. I like how she went through self-discovery.

Overall, this novel is more about exploration of self and reminiscing than being a highly suspenseful novel. The murders are there, but I find them to be more of a subplot to the characters own issues. It wasn't a bad novel, but I find that I would recommend it to those that like family type of stories not suspenses.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

5 stars

This story is told from the points of view of three people: Bernard an elderly man, Maddie a teenager, and Amy.

An elderly woman named Adel Minor is beaten to death in her own home. The smoking remains of her supper alerted the neighborhood and the fire department to that fact that something was wrong.

Bernard White is an octogenarian widower who still talks to his wife. He mostly stays home except for Wednesdays when he ventures out to the dry cleaners and to go grocery shopping. When he runs into an old friend, he begins to reconnect with his old friends. The murder of Adel is the talk of the town of Seven Springs.

Maddie Lowe is a teenager and a waitress. Her mother has left the family and it has fallen upon Maddie to try to keep her family together. She misses her mother and wonders where she is and what she is doing. Maddie has a guilty secret. When interviewed by the police about Adel’s murder, she doesn’t tell them everything in order to protect her friend Charlie.

Amy Unger is an artist who has survived cancer. But she is not well emotionally. The murder of Adel has thrown her into a crisis. She finally takes up drawing again. She is in a frenzy as she reimagines Adel’s last day. She decides to clean up her abandoned studio and go to buy canvas and paints.

Angela Greene is the next elderly woman murdered in her home. The police begin their second investigation without making any headway in Adel’s murder. While talking over the situation with his friend Danny, Bernard suggests that they contact all of the “originals” as they call themselves. These were the original settlers of the small community. Not to start a vigilante group necessarily, just to talk things over. The Originals conceive an idea that those who want to should pair up so that they won’t be alone. They must ensure that their doors and windows are locked and not open the door to strangers.

When the police arrest a homeless man – the Charlie Amy was trying to protect – the little community is thrown into confusion. Charlie couldn’t be the killer. He was kind and harmless. What were the police doing? When another woman is killed, with Charlie still in jail, it is now clear that he didn’t do the murders. Charlie is released the next morning. Who is doing the killings?

Amy begins to draw and paint Adel’s attack and death. She becomes obsessed with it. Her paintings are the best she’s ever done. Maddie has a relationship. Bernard begins to become very attached to the woman he is staying with for her protection.

This novel is about loss, mistakes, hopelessness, memories both good and bad and hope. The three people who are the main characters are not really all that different. One elderly, one teenager and one middle-aged, but they are all tied together not just by the murders, but also by their seemingly different lifestyles.

The identity of the killer comes as somewhat of a surprise, but why they did it makes sense – sort of.

The book is very well written and plotted. The tension in the story increases and decreases as different things occur, but it is a gentle tension. The reader wonders who could be doing the killings and why. Ms. Owens creates an atmosphere of a small community rocked by the murders, yet as they strive to survive, they are disconnected. They finally gather together to protect and communicate with one another. It’s a beautiful story. The reader is there feeling what the individual narrators are feeling at that time. Very well done, Ms. Owens! I immediately went to Amazon to look for other books of hers.

I want to that NetGalley and Touchstone for forwarding to me a copy of this most remarkable book to read and enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

This book had a certain appeal. Someone is killing the elderly residents of an older south Florida neighborhood--a neighborhood that seems to have more than the average number of secrets. The author takes pains to introduce us to the main characters, shifting points of view and writing in a compassionate, compelling style. The ending was pleasantly unexpected, if perhaps a bit pat.