Black Eyed Susans

This is the tale of Tessa finding out the truth. When she was a young teenager she was found in a pit full of bones and next to a recently dead lady – a horrific abduction. At the time, they thought they’d found the killer/kidnapper and he was sent to death row. In the present, it’s time for him to be executed… but was it really him?
This was a really creepy book. I wasn’t feeling the plot or the writing style until the last third of the book… it felt like a lot of hard work to read this book, it twisted and changed direction constantly and because of this, it was tiring to read and seemed a little overkill. The final 100 pages was where it all slotted in to place and I found this section of the book most enjoyable to read.
What did I like about the book? 
The plot cast doubt on many of the background characters and it wasn’t until the final part of the book that it even clicked in my head who the killer truly was.
It sure as hell was creepy! It truly slots perfectly into the thriller genre – although I must admit it didn’t mess with my mind as much as other psychological thrillers have done, this was purely about putting together clues and solving the mystery by unlocking memories in the main character’s head.
You knew from the start that Lydia’s (Tessa’s childhood best friend) compulsive behaviour wasn’t quite right but the author managed to only drop small clues throughout the book which allowed the ending to be a true climatic experience.
What I didn’t like? 
Other than Tessa and Lydia, none of the main or background characters were fully explored – in some aspects this worked as it allowed the reader to focus on the trauma that the main character was going through, but it also meant that the book didn’t feel very memorable as I couldn’t visualise a full picture in my head of how the scenes would play out.
Tessa had multiple events happen which indicated to her that the guy inside prison was innocent… and yet she didn’t act on it until a few weeks before his execution. I can appreciate that she was scared and wanted to blank out anything to do with the horrific event BUT I couldn’t understand how she could just smooth over the doubt and guilt that she’d helped put an innocent man in prison.
It took me over a week to summarise my thoughts on this book and the jury (in my head) is still out on whether or not I enjoyed this book. Any of my fellow bookworms read this book?
Until next time, Chloé x