After Anna by Lisa Scottoline Also by this author: Keep Quiet, Daddy's Girl, Every Fifteen Minutes, Most Wanted, Look Again, Corrupted (Rosato & DiNunzio, #3)
Published by Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press on April 10, 2018
Genres: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 125009965X
ASIN: B076M8DF21
Goodreads
Nobody cuts deeper than family...
Noah Alderman, a doctor and a widower, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie, and for the first time in a long time he and his son are happy. But their lives are turned upside down when Maggie’s daughter Anna moves in with them. Anna is a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble that is brewing. Events take a deadly turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of the crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her only daughter, but the realization that her daughter's murder was at the hands of a husband she loves. New information sends Maggie searching for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.
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#Imposter #PostpartumPsychosis #PediatricAllergist #Heiress #ChildhoodApraxiaofSpeech @LisaScottoline @mozhanistan @JeremyBobb
After Anna is Lisa Scottoline’s latest stand-alone novel and certainly a worthy addition to her long list of mysteries and thrillers. Anna Desroches, Maggie Ippoliti’s daughter by her first husband, is the central character around whom this horror story revolves. Yes, I’m aware I said it was a mystery and a thriller, but the events that transpire when Anna re-enters the life of Maggie and her second husband Dr. Noah Alderman definitely qualify it as a horror story. What could possibly be more horrible than to have the joy of regaining a child turned into a nightmare of murder, mayhem, and heartbreak? The author cleverly employs an alternating timeline to place questions in the listener’s mind. What really happened to bring us to the opening scene which finds Noah on trial? The “after” gives us Noah’s perspective interspersed with Maggie’s description of the “before.” I have to say there were times when I wanted to shake each one of these characters while screaming “what are you thinking?” Listeners will be treated to courtroom shenanigans that will not make you love the legal profession as Noah fights for his life when he’s accused of Anna’s murder. Linda Swain-Pettit, the prosecuting attorney, is going to be one of those characters you love to hate. I think even the judge in the trial hated her! If you aren’t a fan of courtroom drama, you may be tempted to speed up the narrative during those scenes, but don’t do it! You will miss Ms. Swain-Pettit’s snarky questions which are almost amusing. I’m holding her in contempt even if Judge Gardner didn’t!
Jeremy Bobb and Mozhan Marno share the narration and they give an excellent performance with Mr. Bobb reading Noah’s “after” POV and Ms. Marno reading Maggie’s “before” POV. The use of both a male and a female narrator enhance the author’s use of the alternating timeline.
So, what’s my verdict on After Anna? I don’t think Lisa Scottoline’s fans will be disappointed. There were times when the storyline was so gripping I couldn’t stop listening. Because we meet Noah as he is about to hear the verdict in his trial, there is an undercurrent of evil anticipation that permeates the entire plot as we wait to hear what happened to bring him to this point. When the POV’s converge into the present, the slow pace of the before and after picks up almost to warp speed. I suspect most listeners will say “did that just happen?” and wonder if they missed something. It’s all very twisty and twisted toward the end and I, for one, wanted more details. Nevertheless, if you suspend plausibility just a bit, you should be satisfied with the conclusion to this complex tale of deception, greed, and, ultimately, forgiveness.
About Lisa Scottoline
Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty novels including her most recent, AFTER ANNA, and also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella, called Chick Wit, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has won many honors and awards, notably the Edgar Award, given for excellence in crime fiction, and the Fun Fearless Female Award from Cosmopolitan Magazine. She also teaches a course she created, called Justice and Fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and regularly does speaking engagements. There are twenty-five million copies of her books in print, and she is published in over thirty other countries.Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. degree in English, and her concentration was Contemporary American Fiction, taught by Philip Roth and others. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She remains a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area, where she lives with her array of disobedient pets.
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