Black-Eyed Susans--book review

I promised to share with you some of the books I've been reading while I recouperated.  So I will start with the most recent one.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

Synopsis:

I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories.
I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans.
The Lucky one.

As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there.  Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving "Blacky-Eyed Susan," the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave.  Tessa's testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.

Now almost two decades later.  Tessa is an artist and single mother.  In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans--a summertime bloom--just outside her bedroom window.  Terrified at the implications--that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large--Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution.  But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly.  An innocent life hangs in the balance.  The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories--and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly afterher rescue.

What they don't know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets.  As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter.  Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues?  She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and the lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.


My thoughts:

This book is fantastic! I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great psychological thriller. When I started reading this one I couldn't put it down. I even took it to the bathroom with me! Oops, TMI, sorry.

This book is very thought provoking.  I find it difficult to put into words. The author never tells us what happened to Tessa. We know she was found in a wheat field left for dead.  There was anther body and bones from even more victims. But what happened to Tessa? Was she raped, tortured, what? How long was she held before being found? We glean much information from reading but I personally would have liked to know the background. Much was left for your imagination. Maybe this is why it is so good!

The ending is tied up neatly and we are not left hanging, so please give it a chance. I don't think you will be disappointed!