Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke

The Ex by Alafair Burke
Published by Harper on January 26, 2016
Genres: Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 304
Format: ARC

Olivia hasn't seen Jack since she broke his heart twenty years ago.  When she receives a call from his teenage daughter, begging for help, guilt sets in and Olivia knows she cannot resist.

Jack Harris is a widower, his wife Molly killed by a shooter three years previous. He's just begun to contemplate a relationship again. It's fate that he sees a woman in a party dress, sitting on the grass with a picnic basket by her side and a glass of champagne in her hand.  Days later, he can't stop thinking about her.  Days after, his best friend posts a message about this sighting on a popular website and the two are reunited. When Jack goes to meet this woman, his life is upended.

Olivia Randall is a renowned New York City defense attorney. When she learns that Jack is arrested for a triple homicide, one of the victims being the father of his wife's shooter, she knows the man she loved decades ago couldn't be responsible.  Taking on his case, however, opens up fresh wounds.  Still overcome with guilt, Olivia struggles to uncover who is behind this brutal multiple murder, someone also willing to frame Jack for an act he couldn't possibly have committed.

As Olivia begins to weigh the evidence, she discovers that time has changed Jack and begins to question his innocence.  If he is guilty, it puts to question everything she knew about the man she once loved.

No exaggerating: I read this book in under two hours. Already a fan of Burke’s writing, she captivated me from page one and, by the end, I was completely floored by what transpired. I was ready to pick it up and start all over again, desperate to uncover the signs I had missed. As a former prosecutor herself, Burke combines her skilled writing ability with her real life experience to craft a story that has genuinely left me speechless.

I’m not going to go into much more detail, for this is definitely one of those books you have to read on your own, with limited inside knowledge. It’s the type of book that puts a thought in your mind, in this case questioning your own ideals or levels of morality, which will last long after you’ve turned the final pages.

If you haven’t experienced Burke’s writing yet, let this book be your gateway drug. Highly, highly recommended.

 

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this title.