Killing Time by Brenna Ehrlich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
Natalie Temple is on the cusp of adulthood. It is summer and she should be out partying and enjoying time with her friends while she can before heading off to college.
Unfortunately, that is not in the cards for Natalie after she discovers her favorite teacher/mentor has been murdered.
Natalie’s greatest interest is true crime, much to the chagrin over her over-protective mother, Helen. In fact, her teacher, Mrs. Halsey, is the only adult who ever seemed to understand, and even nurture, Natalie’s curiosity regarding true crime.
Even though the pair had a bit of a falling out, Natalie still cherishes Mrs. Halsey as a person and feels determined to discover what happened to her. It seems only natural to Natalie to begin her own investigation into the crime.
Over the course of the book, you get both Natalie’s present-day perspective, as well as her Mom, Helen’s, past-perspective, which occurs while Helen was in her first-year of college.
Through these two perspectives, the Reader gains insight into the complexity of Helen and Natalie’s relationship, as well as the circumstances surrounding the murder of Mrs. Halsey.
I usually enjoy alternating timelines and perspectives and this was no exception. I liked getting to see Helen’s background. It definitely helped to understand some of her overbearing behaviors; at least her motivations behind them.
I certainly wouldn’t say I agree with her parenting style. You trying to push her away, Helen?!
Natalie, for me, was the weak spot of this story. I did not enjoy her. I could relate to her on being obsessed with true crime at a young age and not having people understand you because of that, but dang, I found her so abrasive.
The way her perspective was written rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed overly aggressive, or brash. I’m not quite sure how to explain it. It turned me off from the story.
Pushing that aside, however, the mystery itself, I was into. I did want to know what happened to Mrs. Halsey. I was absolutely taken along on that journey of discovery.
I also found it interesting to see the connections between the past and present; to see how much Helen’s own backstory shaped the present. That was very interesting.
Overall, this was a good reading experience for me. I wasn’t blown away by it and there were a few aspects of the story I felt could have been handled better, but yeah, I liked it. The audiobook kept me engaged and I would definitely pick up future work from Brenna Ehrlich.
Thank you so much to the publisher, RB Media, for providing me a copy to read and review. I really appreciate it!!
