Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea
Published by Kensington
Publication date: December 28, 2021
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Vacation Reading
Bookshop
Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea combines true crime television, celebrities, and 9/11. The story begins with the salacious murder of a famous author. The circumstantial evidence at the scene leads to a suspect, Victoria Ford, being indicted. Before the case can proceed to trial she disappears. Twenty years later her DNA is identified from a tiny bone fragment preserved from the wreckage of one of the towers destroyed in 9/11. Tragic, but not extraordinary until the victim’s sister is notified. This is the match that lights the flame to start turning up the heat in this slow burn thriller.
Victoria’s sister contacts Avery Mason, the host of a hugely popular TV show, and asks her to investigate the original murder because she has the voice mail from the final phone call Victoria ever made. In it she proclaims her innocence and begs her sister to clear her name. Avery is intrigued seeing this as the kind of mystery that could make her career and so begins digging. Through her and a detective who worked the original murder an assembled cast of investigators, forensic scientists, police detectives, family members, and friends is used to cast suspicion on anyone even remotely known to the dead author or his accused killer.
This is a long game murder mystery. Twenty years and 9/11 means all kinds of documentation has gone missing or been destroyed, not to mention all the people who are no longer around or don’t want the truth to come out. Donlea builds the tension by giving even the most innocuous character a role to play. Everyone is problematic and flawed so they come across realistically even as their motivations and involvement are in question. This could lead to plot mayhem, but Donlea doesn’t let that happen. Instead, he calmly stirs this enticing stew, layering in all the flavors for optimum reading satisfaction. Twenty Years Later is an easy 5 star mystery.
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