Joined in 2023 
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I will say though, I didn't love everything. For one, I found the writing style to be a bit odd, especially in the beginning. There was an excess of punctuation everywhere, particularly commas. This isn't the sort of thing I usually notice, but it was really flagrant.
Jen decides to find out the details about the stranger who was murdered. She embarks on a challenging yet exciting journey into the past to unravel the mystery behind everything that happened. Wowza, this is an absolute mindblower. I’ve been a fan of Gilly McAllister for several years but in my opinion this is the best yet. My advice, don’t read the blurb, go in blind for greater enjoyment. All I’m going to say is that on day zero just after midnight Jen is anxiously waiting for her son Todd to come home. She spots him and shortly after her world stops turning. What follows on takes Jen on a journey of discovery after discovery.But I am a bit bummed it took a while. And don’t get me wrong, I think this story turns out to be great. However, I do feel the first half could have been fleshed out a bit better. Think of second chances, time loops, a mother's unconditional love, smart moves, and unintended consequences. Overall, this book will have you questioning the choices you make and their unintended consequences. It will likely appeal to those who enjoy twisty sci-fi thrillers.
The story begins with Jen witnessing her son kill another boy and as the police arrive, Jen’s life begins to crumble. Her son is charged with murder, in possession of the knife and the victims blood on his hands and clothes. Was this story perfect? No, there are some parts that didn't really make sense and by the end of the story I believed that Jen had lived the most clueless life possible, yet it was still incredibly fast paced and captivating. There are some fantastic twists revealed at deliberate intervals, and like I said above, although I figured many of them out ahead of time, this was still an entertaining and clever story. The premise is that a mother/lawyer witnesses her 18-year-old son murder a man in the front of their home. This is day zero, or more accurately, night zero. As one can imagine, Jen, the mother, is beside herself. Her son is arrested right in front of her for murdering a man who appears to be in his 40’s. Her son, Todd, is taken into police custody. Jen gets to revisit everything from huge moments of life to the small ones that make up day-to-day living. It was especially interesting reading her interactions with her son and how much she missed either because she was working or distracted, what have you. I though the scenes with her son were especially poignant.Everything But The Truth, Anything You Do Say, No Further Questions, The Evidence Against You, How to Disappear, That Night and Wrong Place Wrong Time If you like a book that keeps you gripped and eagerly anticipating the next move, then you will be immersed in this one. You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your son is charged with murder. His future is lost.
I actually almost quit this one several times and I’m glad I didn’t. I do think it’s worth the read but just know it’s a slow start. Jen’s Journey Gillian McAllister tells us the story of the relationship between a mother and son through this novel. There were so many twists and turns in here, it made for a most exciting time. I don't want to talk them up though, since whether or not you'll be surprised will depend on what you've seen before. As for me, I guessed a few things beforehand, but there were still plenty that surprised me and kept me on my toes. Jen wakes up the next morning, after a night at the police station, ready to fight, to hire lawyers, to try to understand how she had “come to raise a murderer. Teenage rage. Knife crime. Gangs. Antifa. Which is it? Which hand have they been dealt?” She is, she thinks, “an excellent rescuer, has spent all of her life doing just that, and now it’s time to help her son”. But, as she slowly comes to realise, the impossible has happened. It is 28 October and Todd has yet to kill anyone.Jen, watching from a window, witnesses her 17-year-old son, murder a man in front of her home. What could have made her sweet son murder a man? Now that he is in custody, what will become of him? If you enjoy a mystery, suspense and time travel story with a hints of “Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” then you will love this.
loved* Stephen Kings 11/22/63; swooning over the love story …. and there have been a few other time travel books I liked very much —
Customer reviews
There are plenty of surprises in this story and once I got into the swing of what was occurring (and once Jen accepted that it was taking place and stopped trying to figure out the how/why/trying to tell everyone around her what was happening) I was able to put on my puzzle solving hat and go with the flow of what Jen was trying to discover. Each day there was a small discovery but there was nothing substantial to really hook me in. My interest didn’t pique until ~45% mark where there was a pretty big reveal. But in between the reveals it felt so slow and there was no sense of urgency or much tension. A genre-defining masterpiece that turns everything you think you know about crime, family and memory on its head. I'm so jealous of everybody who gets to read this for the first time. An instant classic -- Holly Seddon
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