When I'm reading an especially good book, I have one rule of thumb: If there's 10% or less left to go at bedtime, I stay up the extra few minutes to finish; anything more than that waits till the next day. For this one, I made an exception; with twice that much left, I waved goodnight to my husband without even looking up from my Kindle.
It's got murder, intriguing characters and plenty of action. One of the attractions to me is the setting, a remote Idaho community near Seattle that's home to a large community of religious fundamentalists and faith-healers. They've made peace, sort of, with local law enforcement; but ongoing efforts to strike down the state law that prevents religious leaders and parents from prosecution when they refuse medical attention for sick and injured members have put the truce on shaky ground. Amid this scenario comes teenage Eliza Cook, who seeks out FBI agent Lucy Thorne to confess that she'd murdered a young boy; but after providing a few details - like the location of the body - she refuses to say another word.
Not fully able to believe Eliza's story, Lucy travels to Knox Hollow in hopes of learning more. There, she meets local sheriff Wyatt Hicks, who seems friendly but guarded. While he's willing to offer help, introducing her to the boy's family - members of the religious group - Lucy suspects he may not be telling the whole truth and nothing but. Ditto for other families and leaders of the group (without question, I'd call it a cult). When the investigation reveals more of the community's secrets, Lucy begins to wonder who, if anyone, she can trust.
To be sure, there are things that complicated my feelings a bit - not the least of which is the constant back-and-forth chapters among characters and time frames that's almost guaranteed to give me gas. Here, though, it's done quite effectively - possibly because it's easy to keep the characters straight and the retrospective time periods are for the most part not far from the present. I'd also agree with other reviews I've read that some parts are implausible; I doubt, for instance, the ability of any teenager I've ever known to dream up, much less carry out, anything close to what happens in this story. But for gosh sake, the operative word in a work of fiction is fiction; and as far as I'm concerned, that means not everything has to fall within my real-life credibility.
So for me, this one is a clear winner. Many thanks to the Amazon First Reads program, through which the book was made available.
Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes (Thomas & Mercer, August 2020); 343 pp.
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