Innocent or Guilty?

by A. M. Taylor

[zooloo1983]

I am not quite sure how I am going to write this review because the wrong word or sentence could bring a huge spoiler alert and I really do not want to ruin this ride for anyone!

The premise is an exciting one and one that is more popular, of that a podcast team are used to look back at the murder of a teenage boy ten years ago. Olivia, agreeing to be part of this as she is on a mission to get her twin brother Ethan released from prison, as she knows he is innocent. Looking back at the clues you are constantly questioning if he is innocent or guilty and if he is innocent well who killed Tyler Washington?

I loved as we watched not only Kat and Ray, the podcast team but Olivia too working back the clues, going back to her hometown that she was ousted from. Not always a welcome reception when seeing old “friends.” At the same time, her job is demanding more of her attention as she is a lawyer, and her current case is defending a woman who is being convicted of murder, the girl she is defending….someone from her old town. Are these two cases connected or is it just a coincidence?

The alternating chapters of Then and Now made this book so much more intense. Because whilst we were seeing how the verdict ten years ago affects everyone in the present day, we got to see how it affected everyone back in the day making the story much more rounded and complete, plus more dramatic!!!!!

A small-town mystery, people in power blocking you at every step and a town that just closes ranks on outsiders – what is not to love! This is my first book by Taylor and she has created a little piece of magic here. She has you questioning the evidence, the people and the situation, can you really trust anything in front of you?

I know all I seem to be doing is asking you questions and I am meant to be reviewing the book, but this is what the book does. It really makes you question everything and that is something I blinking love! I don’t want a book to just tell me the answers, I want my journey to be immersive and inclusive and this is what I felt happened here. I felt like I had an opinion in both cases but, of course, I can not change anything! I did love the snippets we are given as the reader of the podcast, seeing/hearing things from interviews we were not privy to at the beginning which made for interesting viewing. Not all is as it seems it appears and the ride to the end is an adventurous and perilous one, one where you have to decide who is innocent and who is guilty.

I really want you to read it so we can discuss things that I can not discuss here. For my sanity alone, please do it!!