The small town of Apple, Massachusetts has murders every fall going back 60 years, it is just a fact of life for the town. This fact seems to have seeped into the people and corrupted many of them over the years. The story follows teenager Jackson, his friends and family and the town itself dealing with their lives and the specter of impending murder.
Jackson’s life is not ideal, his father is very religious and has checked out of family life, his sister is mentally ill, his mother has serious depression and has essentially checked out since a family tragedy 2 years ago and his ailing grandfather has dementia, he is essentially responsible for taking care of the family which is very difficult for him. He really only has his best friend and neighbor Newie and his girlfriend Annie, they both also have messed up family lives in there own ways.
This book really sets a pretty bleak and depressing atmosphere which fits the story well, the story has some good twists and turns and the mystery aspects are done pretty well. I find some of the dialogue a bit sophomoric/childish but then again these are teenagers and many do speak like that so it is probably accurate.
Jon Oak the narrator was pretty good, I was not a huge fan of his female voices but other than that he was very good.
The ending was interesting, I am still not sure how I feel about it yet(not it a bad way).
“Please note I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”