I was grumpy this morning so picked this up -- and ended up inhaling it in a few hours. I'm horrifascinated by Lizzie Borden, despite my typical aversion to true crime, and I love retellings and imaginings of how things might have unfolded.

This one, a contemporary thriller set in Falls River, MA, echoes the Borden murders late in the story; the majority of the story details the fallout of a tragedy and its impact on a family. A family that has to deal with dishonesty that stretches further than anyone wants to admit. In that, it's a solid story of grief and denial and being a teenager under extraordinary emotional circumstances; even without the Borden homage, I was stressed about how things would shake out.

Oh, the end. I had some ideas about how it would go but I was still shook by some of what happened -- for whatever reason, I was most betrayed by

Stephen, even though he featured so little in the story.

The cruelty of it, I think.

Read this when it's cold and gray outside so the world matches the mood.