Mystery/Thriller -- 3 stars
Melissa Byatt is married to the son of one of the original Forest Grove families. Together they have three children, and life is good. That is, until Melissa arrives home one day to find her children standing around their father who is unconscious and bleeding on their kitchen floor. They are the only ones who know what happened; and they aren't talking. ----- A story idea, no matter how original, can only carry the plot so far. Eventually there has to be more. In this case, there are plenty of hints of a big bang to come. Unfortunately, once the secrets are revealed, they are mundane at best. Melissa Byatt is a well developed and sympathetic character, but her children--the actual center of this mystery--remain untapped and silent cyphers. Their silence did keep me guessing, and Melissa's in-laws appeared ripe to rip this story open, but eventually all the possibilities of a big ending just deflated--a decent build-up that simply flattened under the weight of my expectations. The forest and its backstory kept my interest, but the current inhabitants of Forest Grove disappointed.
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