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Lea O'Harra

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“A terrible thing to happen,” Toshi says, returning the photo to the TV. “To your mother!” He blows a smoke ring and looks up at the ceiling reflectively. I know what he’s thinking. He couldn’t bear anything like that happening to his own mother. To Okaasan.”

Dead reckoning has an interesting plotline, filled with some nasty characters and downright obnoxious ones. Toshi falls in the last category. A hateful character with all the trimmings of an arrogant and self-absorbed man. The day he made his final choice I was happy.

When Gilly returns to her hometown after three years of absences, for her mother’s funeral the undercurrents immediately began to turn. Leaving murky and very deceptive waters.

Her mother’s neglected house laid the foundation for the dramatic plot and Toshi as antagonistic as they come. The only time he had something positive to say or think was when money came into the picture. How they ever got married is beyond me.

Her two brothers were quite a pair and the typical sibling rivalry can be seen as each carries his own weight. The loss of their mother left them in uncertain waters and the father is non-existent. Even though they mentioned him quite a bid he never became part of the plot. Which just showed how big the gap really was between the children and their father.

The relationship between Gilly and Sally were a thin thread with so many nuances within that I wondered what on earth kept it together. But at the end, this relationship proved to be a solid investment to both Sally and Gilly. Both of them had to come to grips with the events in 1984, both had to make do with the choices handed to them.

“Sally leaps up. “God, now it all comes back to me,” she says. Her face is white, and I notice she’s trembling. “That day! I called you, Gilly, angry because we’d arranged to meet at Mabel’s and you never turned up.” I feel myself going pale as I remember, too. The awful coincidence. Mom had her accident the day after we’d found Cassie.”

The story is divided into two parts, the present, and what happened twenty-six years ago. Each chapter gives you a deeper look the inner workings of Gillian while she battle to stay afloat in the present. The impact of that one innocent event cause the snowball effect and Gilly and Sally was right in the middle of it.

When Sally’s daughter was kidnapped, the stage was set, and the nasty characters came out to play.

Again Gilly had to put the mouse persona away to really grow as a woman. All her life she was looked Down because of this. Even though the events back in 1984 should have add to her character it became a place of hiding. Not being true to who she was left its mark on her and her present life. This was clear to see through Toshi’s attitude. But when everything came together, it was beautiful to watch how the strong version of Gillian stepped to the forefront and she kept it up right till the end of the book.

What I didn’t like about the book:
I found the plotline at times dragged out, the point of the story only coming together around halfway in the book. From there all the puzzle pieces began to interlock and suspense showed its head in quick succession.
There was too much dialogue with no real purpose that slowed the story.
The sexual scenes were flat and not believable.

Otherwise, a good dramatic story I can recommend.
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lynelle.clark.5 | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 19, 2023 |
When her mother dies, Gilly returns from Japan to her childhood home to attend the funeral and close the estate. The tearful occasion brings back memories that she thought she had resolved years ago. When she was a young child, she and her friend Sally found a deceased newborn child in the woods near the cemetery. They named her Cassie and buried her in their lawn. Around the same time other children were killed and the person responsible was jailed. But now Tim has been released and Sally informs her that it's happening again. Someone is placing dead flowers on babies in strollers.
When a brick is thrown through her window and her rental car is torched, Gilly becomes certain the newborn's killer is after her.
Lea O'Hara has written the perfect taunt thriller with non stop action right to the surprise conclusion. I really liked her character development of Gilly. From the first page we sympathize with Gilly. She has always been a timid child, so much so that she was called Mouse by her older brothers and was easily bullied by the neighbour's children. Now, she has brought along her classic textbook narcissist Japanese husband who finds fault with everything about her, her background, her home, even her job. Instead of trying to help and understand her, Toshi just adds to her mental anguish. Through flashbacks in her diary, Gilly works through her childhood trauma to find out what really happened to the baby she named Cassie. I love how Gilly bloomed from being that little "Mouse" to a real kick ass heroine.
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DeniseDuvall | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 18, 2023 |
Dead Reckoning is a creative, suspenseful murder mystery. It begins with two close friends; very different in personalities.

Sally was the more aggressive one and Gilly was the more reserved, timid, deep-thinking one. Against Gilly's protests, the 12-year-old girls went into the local cemetery one night. What they discovered, and even took home was shocking! It was their very well-kept secret for years to come.

Now an adult, successful Gilly returns home with her husband, Toshi, to attend her mother's funeral. he hadn't seen her mother in a few years since she was married to a Japanese Man and working at the University there. The distance was not the only reason she hadn't returned home. The town was full of bad memories and her family had been close, yet dysfunctional. Her marriage was not as she had hoped it would be. Her mostly quiet husband was grumbing constantly.

The past began to open up into the present. One must eventually face the past, then put it behind. Gilly's life will never be the same.

This is a, mostly, well-written book. The only concern I had with it is, occasionally it was not immediately clear if it was a past scenario or the present. Otherwise, it kept the reader on the "edge of his/her seat" awaiting the next scene. t was somewhat predictable but had enough twists so the reader was not sure until the very end.

The Title and the Cover image were both simple, yet, clever and very fitting.

The individuals felt like actual people and the reader was successfully "brought into" the story.

This book was gifted me with no pressure for a positive review. This is my honest review.
… (mehr)
½
 
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LAWonder10 | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 4, 2023 |

Statistikseite

Werke
5
Mitglieder
33
Beliebtheit
#421,955
Bewertung
3.9
Rezensionen
3
ISBNs
4