"Penhale Wood" opens with Iris Flynn, a grieving mother whose daughter was murdered a year before. (The killer has yet to be found). Arriving back at the scene of the crime in England from her new home in Australia for one last effort to find out why this happened to her daughter Sophie, with the help of Rob McIntyre- the original police detective.
McIntyre has his own demons and does not believe that he would do any better now in finding Karen Peterson (Nanny) during the original investigation a year earlier. He agrees, reluctantly, to examine the case again, and discovers a few more leads.
This was an "out of the blue" crime novel. The plot was interesting and kept me wanting to read more, but it was too overdone and not original.
I wanted to like this novel but there were certain aspects that bugged me:
The murderer is somehow presented as an intelligent, sex crazed, sociopath, who has managed to hide from the police for over a year. Yet, the crime she committed is so inexplicable that the two sides of her personality do not match up. The novel seems like it has quickly passed over the murder of a child.
I was also disappointed because the women in the novel could have been very interesting. The questions of motherhood, sexuality, and career aspirations are inspired in the story but the author seemed to completely ignore them. The characters also behave in CRAZY ways.
This novel was an entertaining mystery, with way too many coincidences.
Special thanks to NetGalley & the Publisher for the copy!
I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars.
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