She Left: A Novel

This locked room mystery that weaves the past and present was thoroughly entertaining.

Twenty years ago a tragedy that has been named The Memorial Day Massacre occurred which ended with a group of teens murdered. While someone was convicted for the crime there are still many questions and many things that do not quite add up. Amy Brewer was the only person that was there but got lucky after she left the party due to an argument and was unharmed. She's done her best to put the tragedy behind her. However, when she's invited for an interview by a reputable journalist that's doing a story on the murder she's ready to share her story. Amy and nine others connected to the crime head to a remote cabin and while there they realize there's more to their invitation there than an interview. People start dying and a storm leaves them stranded. Now they have to figure out how to get away and who is desperate enough to kill people to keep secrets about that night.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and the writing had my attention locked in. There's quite an array of different characters and the author did a great job of really making you experience each character. The annoying ones were really annoying, the rude ones I couldn't stand, and I was really rooting for the smart and kind seeming ones. The different characters and the way they interacted with each other didn't leave a dull moment in the book. Each character is suspicious of the others and also trying to cast suspicion away from themselves.

The location is perfect. It gives you enough of a foreboding without being completely shocked that anyone would choose to go to the location with people they don't know (though I still don't think I would). The weather adds the perfect touch that makes an already stressful situation downright terrifying. While I enjoyed the character, the setting, and the story as a whole I did find the ending a bit flat. There was something about it that just wasn't quite satisfying but I can't put my finger on it. I was still left with suspicions I guess.

Highly recommend this thriller!

I just finished She Left by Stacie Grey and here are my thoughts.

Amy Brewer walked out of the house party after some hazing from friends who made her feel like she didn't belong there. Angry, she walks away. Little does she know that with the hour all five of those friends will be dead. Her whole life was changed in that instance.

It became known as the Memorial Day massacre and it rocked their community to its core. Amy may have survived the night but the aftermath was just as bad.

One day, 20 years later, Amy is invited to a remote cliffside house by a journalist looking into what happened that night. The boy who was arrested for the crime committed suicide in jail. There is something missing from the story and Amy isn't the only person invited to the get together. 10 people all with connections to what happened that night and one of them knows more than they are letting on and they are not about to let their secret come out.

This was a super interesting and unique concept for a book and I felt drawn in right away. My biggest con with this book was all the POVs we got. I am just not a fan of that. I like to have a central character where I get all the information. I understand why it was necessary to do it, but it made it really hard to connect with a character and get really invested.
The first half of the book is a lot of story building and it is a slow build up but the second half of the book will bring you to the very best kind of crescendo. The atmosphere was there. You could feel the tangible underlying fear, anger and guilt that was rampant through the group. Everyone had secrets so you literally can blame anyone and the story would fit. It was cleverly done. I thought the ending was wild and it wrapped it well enough for my liking. The part I didn't understand was why would everyone go? You put something in the rear view mirror after 20 years and the killer was dead? Seems weird. I would have liked the rationale as to why all these people showed up.


Other than that I was really entertained.


4 stars


Thank you to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for my gifted copy