TW: rape, suicide
This was an exhilarating read, everything I would hope for in a psychological thriller. It is the story of Linn, who as a 17-year-old was brutally raped. Nineteen years later and forever traumatized by what she can and cannot remember about that night, Linn decides to revisit the past and finally find some answers.
Williams deftly takes us deep into Linn's past and her friendships with Anna and Teo, and Jacob, whom she dated briefly. Minor troublemakers, as kids Linn, Anna and Teo played ding dong ditch throughout the town and had a very specific way of signaling each other through a three-count tapping or doorbell ring. This plays heavily throughout Flowers for the Dead, for while Linn investigates her past and that night, someone torments her with those same doorbell rings in the dead of the night.
I loved the character development in this story. Williams did a wonderful job of digging deep into Linn's trauma and reminding readers that unless you have experienced it, it's difficult to understand the reasoning behind some of the actions victims take (for example, and this is no spoiler, Linn chooses to stay in the house where the attack happened, despite there being no cell service).
I took off half a star because I knew the "whodunnit" about a quarter of the way through the book. Also, I wasn't crazy about the shift in narrators, particularly in the last quarter of the book. Despite those minor annoyances, Flowers for the Dead is a worthy thriller. I look forward to more by this author.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Flowers for the Dead is scheduled to publish March 30, 2020. Find this book here. See this review on Goodreads.
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