Great story line loved the book. Loved the fact that it keeps you in suspense the whole time. Characters are relatable. You know that they could be someone you know.

This book started out a bit slow for me but the more I read the more I started getting invested in the story. Susan's young daughter was murdered and she is taking a long trip to witness the execution of her daughter's convicted killer. I found some of the decisions that Susan made questionable like leaving a big wad of bills in her coat pocket. so that annoyed me a bit but overall I really liked Susan as a character. I love being surprised by twists and turns in a book and this book did not disappoint. Great read.

📿 B O O K • R E V I E W 📿
•
Title: The Necklace
Author: Matt Witten
Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
•
Susan Lentigo’s daughter was murdered twenty years ago, and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer’s execution. On her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent. Even worse, her prime suspect has a young daughter who’s at terrible risk. With no money and no time to spare, Susan sets out to uncover the truth before an innocent man gets executed and another little girl is killed. Will she win justice for the condemned man—and her daughter—at last?
•
I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while, then finally it became available on Netgalley and I was stoked!
•
If you haven’t noticed yet, I am obsessed when there are alternating time lines in a story, and this one goes between the present time, where Susan is on her way to North Dakota for the execution and twenty years prior when her daughter was kidnapped and murdered. I really enjoyed the twists that were placed into the story, and I especially loved not really knowing who I could/could not trust throughout the story.
•
The ending was jaw dropping and absolutely heart breaking, but the epilogue was my favorite part. It was the perfect closure for such a dark and twisted read. Also, I was pleasantly surprised when reading the authors note, explaining to us know that this story is actually loosely based on a combination of real life events and real people who are in the authors life.
•
My only beef with this book is that I really wish that this story gave more insight as to why the killer chose to do what he did. What was going on in this person head.
•
Thank you to @Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
•
•
#alternatingtimelines #lastreadoftwentytwentyone #firstreviewoftheyear #somanytwistsandturn #unsureofwhototrust #thriller #fourstarread #thenecklace #mattwitten

I would like to thank Publisher and Net Galley for ARC Copy.

WOW where do I start with this Novel, a hard read at first but as I kept the more I couldn't put this book down this page turner. My heart goes out to Susan and Amy in what happen I know there is some Mother out in the real World who went through the same as Susan or similar,.I would have never thought that about Danny wow just wow. This thriller best I have read in a long time one my best read of 2021.My favorite part was when Susan and Kyra went to Danny house and what went down, only they could live together. And Special Agent Pappas love how he was there for Susan really help her. The only character other than Danny I disliked was Lenora talk about issues she had a lot. This was so good from time to time it plays out in my head like a Movie love it. And the ending was perfect between Susan and Pappas.

When Susan's daughter, Amy, was 7, she was taken from her upstate New York school and savagely murdered. Twenty years later, Susan's friends and family raise the money to send her on a roadtrip to North Dakota to witness the execution of the man convicted of the crime. However, on the way, everything seems to go wrong, including the fact that she begins to question whether or not the man she's waited 20 years to see die, whom she refers to as "the Monster," is in fact guilty of killing her daughter. But the alternative answers she discovers may be even more disturbing than she could ever imagine.

This book is told along two timelines: one in the past, as Amy disappears and her disappearance is investigated and one in the present, as Susan makes her way to North Dakota for the execution and begins questioning the verdict.

I liked the uniqueness of the premise of this book - a mystery that takes place along a road trip. The logistics alone are super interesting.

The central mystery doesn't really get going until about 40 percent into the book, I would say. A couple times, Susan mentions some small inconsistencies in "the Monster's" testimony or things he says, but she really doesn't begin to seriously question his guilt until much deeper into the book, so the pacing isn't super fast. But I liked the build u because it gives you a good amount of time to see the bigger picture of the crime and the people surrounding it, which will be important later. Understanding why they were so eager to accept the story and see it close is important to its understanding.

Susan as a character was great - she was overanxious, a little neurotic, but in the end she meant well and was just a grieving mother looking for answers. She really embodies everyone who felt like they aren't heard or given a chance.

For as slow burning as the beginning is, the ending is heart-stompingly fast, and it is worth the wait. It's really quite intense and will have you holding your breath.

If you like mysteries that slowly reveal themselves and then pick up pace quickly, this is the book for you. I really enjoyed it!

I really thought I would like this book more than I did. I found some of the material hard to read, which usually isn't a problem, but I also had trouble with the image of the necklace on the cover and something that was so coveted... Maybe I will go back and re-read this one or read another from Matt Witten to give it more of a chance.

Susan’s daughter was murdered years ago, and now it’s time for the killer’s execution. While traveling to the execution, she starts to consider the condemned man was not the killer. Others seem to believe Susan is having an emotional breakdown, so she looks for evidence to prove she’s right.

The Necklace is a mystery thriller. A mother is grieving her daughter, who was murder as a child twenty years earlier. This makes for an emotional read with disturbing subject matter. Susan misses her daughter, and wants the guilty man to suffer for killing her child. However, she starts to realize someone else may have killed her daughter. She’s emotional though, so it’s hard to get anyone to believe her.

A dark and intense mystery. Mystery readers who enjoy Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner are likely to enjoy The Necklace.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What if the person you think murdered your child is not the right one? Matt Witten’s The Necklace explores that issue in a mother’s quest to seek justice after twenty years. The Necklace has all the elements of a mystery thriller: adventure, danger, suspense, and even romance in this fictionalized true story.

Susan Lentigo is determined to attend the execution of her daughter’s killer, driving from her small town in New York to North Dakota. The story switches from twenty years ago to the present day to reveal the grim circumstances, the trial, and the emotional drain on family and friends. But the journey to North Dakota has many obstacles as Susan’s car breaks down, her money is stolen, and she has nowhere to stay. But in her quest for justice, Susan takes extreme risks to uncover the truth with help from a teenage outcast, a former FBI agent, a librarian, and a coffee shop owner. She is willing to lose everything—her dignity, sanity, and life- to put the real killer behind bars and save the one about to be executed.

Witten’s experience as a TV writer in creating great scenes and his knowledge of the execution process make The Necklace a gripping, nail-biting story. The protagonist Susan is a scrappy, strong-willed, and gutsy woman who challenges the criminal justice system and societal norms to find her daughter’s killer. I thank NetGalley for letting me read and review this intriguing novel.

I loved the premise of the book. The narration was on point and gave a tense vibe to the whole book.
The first couple of chapters felt like fillers as they didn't share anything important and I suppose that's why their pacing felt off, but it improved in later chapters.
However the book felt fairly predictable to me.

This fast paced, high drama book is a mother's quest for justice.. Susan Lentigo is on a mission to put to rest her daughter's murder.by witnessing the execution of her murderer.. Along the way, she begins to have her doubts so the book takes lots of twists and turns and you try to figure out the truth with this grieving mother. Face paced and worth the read.
.

An interesting read - neither life-altering or can’t-put-downable… might follow the author for backlist & future reads.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley electronically for review. One thing that amazed and pleased me from the beginning, the CEO of the Publishing Company wrote an intro and THANKED the reviewers....this is not common...trust me. I read hundreds of books a year...That aside, the book is hard to put down. The mother is absolutely engrossed in solving the murder of her child...20 years later...yes...20 years...she works diligently...few want to help her...a mother losing a child to murder...the worst one can imagine. The characters in this novel are so believable, and the red herrings often tend to throw the reader off...however, it is pretty easy to determine who killed the little girl...going back and forth...but finally knowing the answer. Because I dislike rough language, this story bothered me somewhat...that being said...this is a story that has happened in "real life" often...it is a story that when reading, tears may be shed for the child and the survivors...don't miss this one...I am eager to read other books by this author and from this publishing company.

I liked the ideas and events that led to the formation of this story. However, I felt like it could have done better with the structure. As relieved as I was at the path towards the resolution, I must say I was anticipating something hard and brutal.

Wow. This was quite the twisty ride.

We follow Susan. A woman who’s daughter Amy was raped and murdered 20 years ago. Susan hates the monster who did this to her beloved daughter and is on her way to watch his execution, but when she sees the same necklace her daughter was wearing the night she was killed on another little girl, it opens her mind to a whole new set of circumstances. Did the monster on death row really murder Amy??

I loved this. It was gut wrenching, tense, and had me really questioning everything about Amy’s case as we went along. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before!

It was a roller coaster ride through this book. I felt more like I was reading a movie than I was reading a novel. It kept me on my toes until the end.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author, Matt Witten. This was a great read. I love the setting of the book, the writing was very interesting which kept me reading and I loved the true story aspects of the book. This book should be read and well liked by many.

This was a difficult one for me- I really struggle with stories of child sexual assault. But even that aside, I didn’t connect with this book. The main character was abrasive and judgmental and just difficult to like and there was too much cussing- like beyond realist vulgarity. And the writing told rather than showed to advance the story. Overall, I had trouble investing enough to care.

Such great characterization! I felt like I was truly on the journey with Susan. Great use of flashbacks. Good twists.

The Necklace by Matt Witten has left me astounded and breathless and although the novel deals with extremely difficult subject matter, it is well-worth the time to read it. The story alternates between two periods of time: twenty years ago when Susan Lentigo’s daughter is murdered and in the present day when she goes on a road trip from New York and North Dakota to witness the execution of the convicted murderer. Not much more can be revealed about the content so you must read the book yourself to discover a storyline like no other. The tension increases chapter by chapter. The author, Matt Witten, is a screenwriter and TV writer and therefore it would be easy to imagine this as a movie. The characters are good and bad and some both at the same time. They are interesting, sympathetic, cruel and devoted, providing the reader with a broad range of emotions. And, even when the reader begins to grasp the denouement of the mystery, there are unexpected developments galore. The Necklace will remain as one of my favorite mysteries this year. I look forward to reading more books by this author. Highly recommended. Thank you to Oceanview Publishing, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The Necklace is a very fast paced, and filled with suspense and mystery. We get to see how the main character work through difficulties and obstacles.
Thanks netgally for letting me read the book.