Mother Daughter Relationships Can Be Complicated

Ten years after being convicted for the murder of her mother, Jane Jenkins is released from prison due to the mishandling of the evidence.  Instead of going back to Hollywood and living in the spotlight of her notoriety, she instead assumes a new identity and disappears from the public eye in the hopes of finding out the truth behind her mother’s death.  As a teen, Jane wanted nothing more than to be the next Paris Hilton and she set about Hollywood ensnaring men and being seen.  Her mother couldn’t stand her behavior (due to the fact that it was just about the same as her own) and thus, the two had an incredibly tempestuous relationship that really bordered on hate/hate rather than love/ hate.  Minutes before Jane’s mother was murdered Jane overheard a conversation that included the words, “Tessa, Adeline, Jane”.   leads her to a small town in South Dakota, where everyone has a history, relationships are deeply intertwined between families and several people have been harboring secrets from the past that will bring forth the truth in the death of Jane’s mother.

I’ll be honest, I picked up this book because of Tana French’s glowing one line review on the front cover. I’m a big fan of Tana French, so I figured I’d try some Elizabeth Little.  I wasn’t fully satisfied by the book, but I wasn’t disappointed either.  From the start, Jane’s character is acerbic and prickly. It appears that most of it is part of her carefully constructed persona because as the story continues she does seem to (while still being sarcastic and saying mostly eye roll worthy phrases) truly feel a connection with some of the other characters and her focus isn’t quite so hyperfocused on herself. The book is a quick read and I’m sure you could do worse than pick it up but I’m having difficulty writing a review for it because the ending is FAR from satisfying and when that happens it’s just so damn disappointing, don’t you think?  So…grab it from your library if you don’t have anything else to read and are looking for a quick mystery that isn’t quite as great as it has the potential to be.