A Nearly Normal Family is a legal thriller where we get three points of view—an accused murder, her mother and her father.
The book starts off from the father’s perspective, and boy is it a doozy. The father is devastated by his daughter’s arrest and imprisonment, and after his wife suggests his daughter Stella needs an alibi, he lies to the police and tells them his daughter returned home much earlier than she actually did. He begins to unravel and starts questioning individuals after the police talk to them, and chases after officials in the case. It’s not a good look and risks squandering his credibility as a witness.
In the father’s section, a lot of the family’s history is explored through his vantage point. It’s clear he loves his daughter but struggles to relate to her.
In Stella’s section, we learn more about her life before the murder, and her relationship with the victim. She discusses her time in jail and reveals several important plot points that I will not detail here.
Finally, the mother’s section mainly goes through Stella’s trial. The mother is a defense attorney, so she gives the play by play with legal expertise that the average reader will not have.
This book is freaking excellent. In each portion of the book, you become convinced a different person is the killer. It’s funny to call something a legal thriller but this really is. It is an examination of what a parent would be willing to do for their child, and of friendship writ large.
The book starts off from the father’s perspective, and boy is it a doozy. The father is devastated by his daughter’s arrest and imprisonment, and after his wife suggests his daughter Stella needs an alibi, he lies to the police and tells them his daughter returned home much earlier than she actually did. He begins to unravel and starts questioning individuals after the police talk to them, and chases after officials in the case. It’s not a good look and risks squandering his credibility as a witness.
In the father’s section, a lot of the family’s history is explored through his vantage point. It’s clear he loves his daughter but struggles to relate to her.
In Stella’s section, we learn more about her life before the murder, and her relationship with the victim. She discusses her time in jail and reveals several important plot points that I will not detail here.
Finally, the mother’s section mainly goes through Stella’s trial. The mother is a defense attorney, so she gives the play by play with legal expertise that the average reader will not have.
This book is freaking excellent. In each portion of the book, you become convinced a different person is the killer. It’s funny to call something a legal thriller but this really is. It is an examination of what a parent would be willing to do for their child, and of friendship writ large.