Review by Booklist Review
Koval's debut novel is a legal thriller set in Colorado, following the Sheehan family and the night that changed them forever. Nora Sheehan, 13, sits in a jail cell. Her older brother Nico is dead. Nora is the one who called 911--and pulled the trigger. Angie, their mother, blames her husband, David, for not securing the gun; Nora for using it to kill her own brother; and herself for not stopping it. When Nora faces the possibility of being charged as an adult for the crime and spending her life behind bars, David makes a desperate plea to Angie's ex-boyfriend Julian, a criminal defense lawyer known for his pro bono legal work. Despite his and Angie's painful history, Julian agrees to represent Nora. Fans of Little Fires Everywhere will appreciate this deeply moving novel about what it takes to let go of guilt and find redemption. Koval's background in law lends realism to her image of America's broken criminal justice system, and her prose poignantly exposes what it takes to find forgiveness.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A family deals with a mysterious act of fratricide in Koval's harrowing debut. In the small ski town of Lodgepole, Colo., Nora Sheehan, 13, is charged with the murder of her 14-year-old brother, Nico, who was recently diagnosed with Huntington's disease, and who died from gunshot wounds. The police believe he was killed with their father, David's gun. David, a park ranger, is often away, leaving parenting duties to his wife, Angie, whose favoring of Nico was no secret. After Nora's arrest, David persuades a local attorney to get her son, New York lawyer Julian Dumont, on the case, as he specializes in juvenile criminal defense. It turns out Angie and Julian were high school sweethearts, and a parallel narrative follows an earlier tragedy, when Angie's seven-year-old sister, Diana, died in a skiing accident while in the teen couple's care. Nora's motive remains murky as the case progresses, prompting the Sheehans to wonder whether she killed Nico out of mercy or spite after both sides eliminate the possibility that the gun went off by accident. Along the way, secrets kept by Angie and Julian about the aftermath of Diana's death come to light. Koval maintains the pacing of a thriller while going deep on themes of guilt, forgiveness, and the toll of keeping secrets. Readers won't be able to look away. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A teenager's murder of her beloved sibling opens old family wounds and brings dark truths to light. Death and complications define Angie Sheehan's life. At 17, she witnesses her younger sister, Diana, die in a ski accident that also injures her own boyfriend, Julian. She eventually leaves to become an artist in New York City, but just as her career begins to blossom, her father develops cancer and Angie moves back to Colorado to help run the family restaurant business and marries David, a law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service. A decade and a half later, she begins caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, only to learn that her 14-year-old son, Nico, has juvenile Huntington's disease. Then one night, her quiet daughter, Nora, kills Nico with her father's gun. This tragedy sets off a series of life-altering events that include an uneasy reconnection with Julian. A successful criminal attorney now living in New York, Julian reluctantly returns to Colorado to help his lawyer mother defend Nora. Probing the memories of the main characters with sensitivity and insight, Koval takes readers on a journey into the sometimes-painful secrets they have kept from each other. Julian never tells Angie the degree of his involvement in her sister's death or how it drove him to alcoholism, just as Angie never tells Julian--or David--that she conceived Nico just as she left Julian for David. While exploring the complexities of personal and family relationships, this engrossing, emotionally charged novel also examines the way forgiveness comes from acceptance that "each one of us is more than the worst we've ever done." An intelligent, deftly crafted suspense debut. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
