I can't remember the last time a book by an author I was not familiar with lived up to expectations..this was an engrossing and captivating read.
The author is a former prosecutor and you can tell, but it's not overdone with legal jargon, instead she uses it to enlighten some of the legal problems of the times. The story is that of a poor woman accused of helping to conceal, if not commit, a gruesome murder and subsequent dismemberment of the body. The story fluctuates between her stay in Newgate prison and her lawyer's investigation and problems of his own.
The author does and incredible job of changing your viewpoint for you, one minute you're sure she's hiding that she killed the woman herself, the next minute you're sure she's completely innocent. She also does an incredible job of selecting quotes to start each chapter., not something too many people pay much attention to, but here it's an enhancement to the story. It's a practice many authors use, none actually ever meant much to me. They are spot on as preview of each chapter.
Could you figure out the "secret"..probably, but not until the very end, and it keeps you glued to the pages until then! Excellent writing, vivid characters and suspenseful story telling. All in all a wonderful debut and an author I will certainly seek out in the future.
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