Not One of His Best

Kevin Pierce does his usual good job reading this book.

The book itself is far too long for a crime of this nature. Olsen takes chapter on chapter to develop a picture of the family life and multiple troubles of the Gere family. It’s interesting, but the family members are not that easy to empathize with, particularly not Brenda’s father, Joe.

The murderer is identified quite early in the story, so there’s little suspense.

The rest is just a long, spun out tale. Too long in my opinion.The book could have been half the size. Frustrating because most of Olsen’s books are so good.

I saw that one reviewer had called this “two dimensional” true crime. That seems apt because there’s very little nuance or mystery.