Every time I thought I had the mystery figured out, Lisa Gardner tossed another twist into the snowbank.
Apparently, Lisa Gardner doesn't believe in easing her readers into a story. You'll Be Sorry opens with a couple desperately running for their lives, only to lose consciousness beneath falling snow. Are they alive? Dead? Who's chasing them? And when exactly is this happening? Past? Present? Future?
Welcome to my very late night.
In a small New Hampshire town, the disappearance of the Dixon family has cast a shadow for thirty years. Six people vanished without a trace, leaving behind an abandoned house and enough unanswered questions to keep the local gossip mill operating indefinitely. Now the house has finally been purchased, renovations are underway, and the past is beginning to stir.
But wait! There's more!
An old skeleton is discovered in a sealed well, along with an eighteenth-century journal and the remains of an infant. Suddenly, we're digging into the town's darker history, including accusations of witchcraft, mysterious infant deaths, and the persecution of a midwife who apparently had the audacity to try to help people. Naturally, when tragedy struck, the townspeople decided that blaming a witch was preferable to investigating what actually happened. Sometimes I don't like people very much.
I found this historical mystery fascinating, although the treatment of the accused woman made me angry rather than frightened. Even more disturbing was the way the town's prominent families seemed determined to keep inconvenient truths safely tucked beneath their very expensive rugs. And those rugs were getting pretty lumpy.
Meanwhile, there's still that little matter of six missing people.
Gardner weaves these mysteries together beautifully. Just when I thought I understood where the story was heading, another revelation sent my theories straight into the nearest snowbank. I suspected one particularly pretentious, know-it-all character from the beginning, although admittedly my initial reasoning was mostly that I wanted to tell him to sit down and shut up. Sometimes your instincts just know.
The pacing was excellent. There were quieter moments, but they never felt like filler. They gave me just enough time to catch my breath, consider the clues, and get comfortable before Gardner tossed another surprise into the mix. Every time I thought I had things figured out, I discovered how spectacularly wrong I could be.
What impressed me most was how believable everything remained. This is an intricate story with multiple mysteries, complicated histories, and some truly astonishing revelations. Yet the characters' decisions made sense, their motivations were convincing, and the twists never felt like cheap tricks designed merely to shock the reader.
The ending was absolutely satisfying. The mysteries were resolved, the pieces fell into place, and I didn't have to roll my eyes even once. I stayed up reading until I practically passed out, which is generally a pretty reliable indication that a book has earned five stars from me.
Lisa Gardner has gained another fan. I'll definitely be reading more of her work. Just preferably when I don't have anything important to do the following morning.
