A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Apparently, legal thrillers are something I am into now because I f*ing loved this!!
I listened to the audiobook and I feel it was brilliantly cast and narrated. I definitely think that had an influence on my reading experience.
I thought the format was so clever. The three perspectives were presented in three separate chunks as opposed to alternating back and forth.
The story started with ‘The Father’s’ perspective. Adam, a family man and pastor, tells his side of the story. His relationship with his 18- y.o. daughter, who is now being held in police custody accused of a brutal murder.
He fills in a large part of the narrative and you think you have a fairly good handle on the overall story.
Then we get ‘The Daughter’s’ perspective. Well, she would know, wouldn’t she? She was there. The events happened to her.
But as I love, Stella, is a deliciously unreliable narrator, who openly admits to her outstanding ability to lie and manipulate others.
Her perspective fills in some blanks and of course, creates some new ones.
At this point, I was thinking a lot about how two different people can experience the same things and interpret those events completely differently.
It’s fascinating to think about. I love this type of psychological examination of characters.
Lastly, we get ‘The Mother’s’ perspective. Just when you think you have a super firm handle on the events in question, you discover there’s so much more going on.
Stella’s mom, a high powered attorney, knows how the system works and she’ll do anything in her power to protect her little girl.
While I can see how some readers may find this slow or choppy, I had absolutely no complaints about the writing or the format.
I was hooked into this story, start to finish, and loved how much it made me think outside of the reading experience itself.
Overall, a huge fan of this, recommend to anyone who enjoys a legal or crime drama. Would absolutely recommend the audiobook as well!