A review of Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin. Post may contain affiliate links.
I have a new favorite suspense author and that is Julia Heaberlin. I literally read Black-Eyed Susans: A Novel of Suspenseevery chance I could get. I couldn’t tear myself away from it!
The book is arranged in alternating chapters between present day and 1995. The first part of the book alternates between Tessie in 1995 and Tessa (the grown-up Tessie) today. The second part alternates between 1995 and a running countdown to the execution. The third and final part of the book alternates between Tessa present day and her best friend, Lydia in the past. It’s an interesting way to present the story and it is very successful.
Tessie was found at age 16 in a barely concealed grave. She wasn’t dead, but she was found with another dead teenager and some skeletal remains, in a field of black-eyed susans. She doesn’t remember how she got there, but she does remember the horror of laying there. Staring at dead, open eyes. Watching insects gnaw on the flesh of a cheek. Tessie and the other girls come to be known as the Black-Eyed Susans.
Tessa in current day, still traumatized, is getting ready for the execution of the man convicted of murdering the Black-Eyed Susans. However, she is working with some lawyers who believe they may have the wrong man. Tessa never formally identified him as the killer and with some things that have been happening, she is not really sure that he is one.
The story covers everything from Tessie coping with what happened to her and the other “Susans” to Tessa as an adult trying to find out what really happened.
Excellent story and plot, characters were true and believable, plenty of plot twists. I couldn’t put it down.
Ida P. Krause says
Sounds a bit creepy but also intriguing.