Review: After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

Title: After Anna by Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 400 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Nobody cuts deeper than family…

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she’d lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna’s murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

Riveting and disquieting, After Anna is a groundbreaking domestic thriller, as well as a novel of emotional justice and legal intrigue. And New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline will keep readers on their toes until the final shocking page

Review:

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline is a gripping domestic mystery.

Maggie Ippolitti has not any contact with her seventeen year old daughter Anna since her vindictive ex-husband sued for custody after Maggie was hospitalized for postpartum psychosis. Now happily married to Dr. Noah Alderman and stepmom to ten year old, Caleb, she is stunned but thrilled to hear from Anna. Maggie does not hesitate to agree to Anna’s request to move in with them and in short order, her once happy marriage is in serious trouble.  The situation goes from bad to worse when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of killing her. After Noah’s trial ends, Maggie learns stunning news but will this startling turn of events undo the damage that has been wrought on her family?

Anna’s presence in the Alderman household is disruptive right from her arrival. Maggie is overjoyed by their reunion and desperate to ensure Anna’s happiness. Tension quickly builds between Maggie and Noah as they disagree over how to deal with Anna’s manipulative behavior. Noah sees his new stepdaughter a whole lot more clearly than his besotted wife who staunchly defends her daughter and ignores some pretty glaring warning signs that something is not quite right. With an alarming rift rapidly widening between Maggie and Noah, Maggie is bamboozled by Anna’s shocking allegations.

Unfolding in reverse order, After Anna by Lisa Scottoline shifts back and forth between Noah’s murder trial and the events leading up to Anna’s murder. Maggie is a completely irritating character who desperately wants to make up for events from the past and her allegiance quickly shifts to her daughter. Noah makes a few boneheaded decisions that that come back to haunt him and it is shocking how quickly Anna comes between him and Maggie. Anna is extremely devious and quite cunning but what possible motive could she have for her malicious accusations against Noah?  Well, Lisa Scottoline answers that intriguing questions during the twist-filled, action-packed and somewhat improbable denouement. While all of the loose ends are neatly tied up, readers might be a little disappointed with the novel’s saccharine sweet happy ending.