After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

Here's what it is about...

Nobody cuts deeper than family...

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she’d lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be 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 brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna’s murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

Here's what I thought....

      I have been a fan of Ms. Scottoline's Rosato & Associates series for many years so I was excited to get a chance to read her newest stand alone, After Anna.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

     The story is told from two perspectives, Maggie's and Noah's. Maggie's story line moves from the past forward and Noah's moves from current day (the trial) backward so that we see the after effects of Anna's appearance while we are learning how it happened.  It is a good concept for storytelling but I have see it quite a lot lately.

     My main problem with this story is that the narrative from Maggie started out a little unbelievable and then became more and more immature and annoying as it went along.  The half of the story told from Noah's perspective was much more interesting and I wish the whole book had been this way.  

     I will admit that I did actually read (skim) through to the end just because I was curious as to what the end game here was and for that I will give it a 2.5/5 stars.

Author's site: https://scottoline.com/