Twenty Years Later ⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Thriller
US Publication: December 28, 2021
Print: 304 pages
Audio: TBD
Confetti Rating: 3 stars
REVIEW:
I have a true affection for author Charlie Donlea, since his page-turning thrillers have busted me out of major reading slumps on more than one occasion.
That said, his 2020 publication, The Suicide House, was a bit of a miss for me since there was just too much going on. So many characters, so many plot lines. While it pains me to say it, 2021’s Twenty Years Later suffers the same affliction.
The start of this one feels like flipping through channels on TV. You bounce around from scene, character, and year, with a hope that at some point they’ll all come together. It took me until about the 30% mark to feel like I was getting invested in anything.
Also, being a Donlea fan, I know that while his books can all be read as stand-alones, some of his characters pop up here and there. For example, his tried-and-true forensic pathologist Livia Cutty appears in a few scenes. The impact of this technique though made me constantly wonder if other characters were previously introduced in his other books and I’ve just forgotten them. Do their histories feel told rather than shown because there’s another entire book devoted to them? Or is this just another side effect of trying to cram too much into 300 pages?
But here’s the real question for readers… Twenty years later, are you ready to read a thriller where the central storyline revolves around September 11th? Where real victims’ tragedy is exploited for entertainment value? Turns out I am not.
I’ll direct you to the publisher synopsis, where there is an actual phone number given to call. When I started writing this review, I was at 3.5 stars since I did end up flying through the back half of the book and still very much look forward to Donlea’s next one. But then I called that number. If it’s a spoiler to say what’s on the end of the line, I really don’t care. It’s a recording of a fictionalized phone call from one of the characters stuck in the World Trade Center to her sister right before it collapses. I couldn’t even make it through 15 seconds of this absolutely vile marketing stunt. I hope the author didn’t approve this, and I hope it’s removed before major PR efforts roll out.
I received an advance readers copy to review courtesy of the publisher via Edelweiss. Twenty Years Later is slated for US publication on 12/28/21.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
In this gripping, fast-paced new standalone thriller from USA Today, IndieBound, and #1 internationally bestselling author Charlie Donlea, a TV news host sets out to uncover the truth behind a gruesome tale of sex, betrayal, and murder twenty years after the investigation was abandoned in the wake of 9/11.
Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.
Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.
But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life belies a much darker mystery. And what Avery doesn’t realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried…
Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11.
Twenty years ago, no one listened.
Today, you will…
Call: 646-838-2389