Lisa Scottoline's After Anna is a riveting story of the destruction of a marriage, innocent imprisonment, and a mother's deep love.
Noah and Maggie have created a happy life together, both having overcome past tragedy. Maggie's postpartum mental state led to her being institutionalized, her husband divorcing her, taking sole custody of their infant daughter. Noah lost his wife and raised his son alone until falling for Maggie. They are truly happy together.
Maggie is ecstatic when her daughter Anna, now seventeen, contacts her. With the death of her father and step-mother, Anna wants Maggie in her life and asks to be taken in. Noah is supportive. They will be a happy blended family.
Maggie is desperate to make up for failing Anna as an infant, and Anna uses that guilt to manipulate her. Noah insists that Anna follow house rules and parental guidance. Anna is not pleased.
Everything goes wrong. Anna accuses Noah of sexual advances and takes out a restraining order. And when Anna turns up dead, Noah is the prime suspect and is convicted of her murder. Maggie is devastated and preparing to sue for divorce when she is contacted by Anna's school therapist and everything Maggie thought she knew is turned upside down.
The novel is told in two time lines, Noah and Maggie before Anna's arrival and leading up to her death, and Noah on trial and in prison 'after Anna.'
It is an entertaining read that I didn't want to put down. As usual, Scottoline delivers a novel with suspense, human interest, and a twist of contemporary social concerns, with lots of courtroom and legal scenes.
I received a free e-book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
After Anna
by Lisa Scottoline
St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 9781250099655
PRICE: $27.99
