Little Threats by Emily Schultz

 

Little Threats by Emily Schultz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, I enjoyed this book.

Kennedy has just been released from prison, 15 years after she made an Alford plea to the murder of her best friend, Haley. Kennedy is trying to navigate life out of prison and rebuild a relationship with her twin sister, Carter, and her father, Gerry, when a show called Crime After Crime comes sniffing around to review Haley’s murder and maybe find a new suspect.

There is family drama galore. Gerry has a drinking problem. His wife, Liane, had cancer and died while Kennedy was in prison. Carter has had a drug addiction and been to rehab. Gerry wants his family back together but it really seems impossible because everyone has some pretty serious (and incompatible) flaws.

Carter is also dating Haley’s little brother, Everett, behind everyone’s backs. And of course Everett isn’t going to tell this to his mother or father, who both despise the Wynn family since Kennedy went to prison for Haley’s murder.

There’s a lot going on here and it is definitely a multi-layered story. Beneath the family drama, Kennedy wonders if she actually killed Haley, since she was in the haze of an acid drop that night; Carter wonders if Kennedy killed Haley and if she and Everett can ever really be together or if her life has already passed her by; Everett still has a lot of questions he’s not ready to ask or answer about his sister’s death. We do eventually figure out for sure who the killer is, but that’s really not the point of the book.

My biggest annoyance is how sometimes scenes just change without warning. At one time, Kennedy is at her new job, but then suddenly she’s at someone’s house and it’s three days later. I found that pretty frustrating.

Quotes:

"Where had he wandered off to and why wasn't he here when she needed him? After a few movements the screams of his name just turned into a long, wordless wail as she tipped her head back- if she screamed, she could breathe- and the pain that had built inside her for years climbed up into the branches of every tree that Haley had loved."

"There is no ribbon of hair in it, and there is no time for me to be a girl again. There is only time now to be a woman."

SPOILERS BELOW:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turns out that as creepy and weird as Berk was, he was not the killer. He was just a creepy red herring. 

Ted was also not the killer. Just another creepy alcoholic red herring who at the very least kissed his daughter, but may have also assaulted her.

I'm not sure that Haley's placental tissue was ever tested to determine paternity or if the results were ever given, but it is clear that Gerry statutorily raped Haley and he certainly thought the baby was his. He killed Haley to protect himself, and allowed Kennedy to take the fall for him. 

Carter and Kennedy are able to somewhat repair their relationship, and Carter goes on to have a real romantic relationship with Everett. Kennedy's romantic interest, Nathan, first knocks Berk out and goes to jail, then snitches (a good thing!) about Berk possessing pictures of Carter, Haley, and Kennedy while underage. 

   

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