The Ex

NY attorney Olivia Randall defends her ex-fiancée, Jack Harris, accused of killing 3 people in a public park. The highest profile victim and apparent target was the father of the kid who killed Jack's wife in a mass shooting. Jack's story is that he was drawn to that location through an online dating contact who asked him to meet her there.

I'm a fan of Alafair Burke's novels. This one is a quick, easy read with a good plot and good characters. The story progresses through the initial steadfast denial of guilt by defendant Harris, the discovery of evidence by both prosecution and defense, the period of wavering conviction by Olivia that her client is innocent, and finally the ‘whodunnit' revelation. There are plenty of clues along the way, and a sharp mystery reader should be able to figure this one out. A fair portion of the story is also given to details of the past relationship between Randall and Harris. If there was a surprise at the end, it was more in the ‘romance' aspect of the story than the murder plot.

The book was an easy read, nice page turner. There were some twists that I unfortunately saw coming and I knew who did it early on, but it was still a good read seeing how they got there. Unfortunately I'm not sure the “whodunnit” could actually have done it as it seems a bit far-fetched for the culprit, but I still enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the author's voice and the characters were (mostly) believable.

This is the second book I've ready by Alafair Burke. I found it very easy to sink into the story, and the tension between the characters was palpable (and believable). That being said, it seemed a bit formulaic and I figured out the “who dunnit” pretty early on, though it didn't ruin it for me. The journey and how she wrapped it up was still enjoyable.