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Not Guilty (2002)

Not Guilty (2002)

Book Info

Genre
Rating
3.89 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0743423550 (ISBN13: 9780743423557)
Language
English
Publisher
atria books

About book Not Guilty (2002)

Not Guilty by Patricia MacDonald is a 2002 release published by Pocket Books. Keely's first husband Richard committed suicide after suffering with migraine headaches to the point of agony. Richard's long time friend, Mark arrives and works with Keely to get an insurance settlement for her and her young son, Dylan.Keely and Mark fall in love and marry, then have a daughter. Life should be perfect for Keely, but Dylan is withdrawn, moody, and defiant. Then the worst nightmare Keely could imagine happens. Her second husband, Mark is found dead in the swimming pool and Dylan was the prime suspect. Keely's life turns upside down as she works to prove her son's innocence. Mark's former fiance , a desperate social worker and an over zealous detective all try their best to make Keely look like a bad mother and to make Dylan look guilty.The only thing Keely knows to do is to find out who was responsible for Mark's death. As she digs into Mark's life, she discovers she never knew Mark at all. She also finds that her first husband was also not what he seemed.I enjoyed this novel. I love suspense novels with lots of secrets and suspects. We never knew who to trust here. All the people in the novel had secrets. Some were major game changers and others were more benign, but after awhile, Keely can't trust anyone but herself.A good mystery, great suspense. Overall a B+

I'm having trouble connecting with the protagonist. She acts like The current event is something everybody has occur to them. I really don't like Dylan so far. Although this book did become interesting still wasn't one of my favorites. I felt that the characterization of Dylan could've been better defined. If she would've somehow made him seem like a good kid it would've been easier to connect to him. There wasn't any previous stories about him to make you connect to him. I really didn't like the protagonist pretty much the whole way through. It was hard to sympathize with her. She seemed quite self-centered most of the time. Towards the end it made you think that the author was setting up her to begin dating Dan. Overall I felt this book could've been better. Some of the stories were not completely resolved at the end.

Do You like book Not Guilty (2002)?

There are certain facts readers need to know about Keely Bennett. She taught American Literature in high school and was the advisor to the yearbook club. Then her husband commits suicide in a rather messy way and he is found by the couple’s young son. After that, the story gets really dark and messy. I’ll admit right up front that I am put off by authors who feel they have to search for synonyms for “said” in order to make dramatic points and who use a lot of italics for the same reason. For those reasons, the impression I take away from this novel is perhaps more negative than it should be.Billed as a dark psychological thriller, author MacDonald, who certainly can write well, seems to take the easy path in many instances in a story with considerable potential, with surprising twists and a protagonist I found difficult to like. Keely Bennett makes obvious mistakes, seems unable to think for herself in many instances, and is ultimately present at the final resolution, rather than creating it. She’s very good at despair and hand-wringing. Her son, Dylan, on the other hand seemed the very essence of a modern teenager, beset by adults who neither understand nor listen to him, a boy with a mother one step from being institutionalized, supportive friends at school, yet possessed of keen insight and a willingness to act while his mother dithers.
—Carl Brookins

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