In this thriller, Sally and Gilly have a secret, one that Gilly hasn’t even shared with her husband. When she was young, she and her best friend Sally, found something one day in the cemetery: they found a box with a dead baby in it.
What would you do if you found such a thing? I definitely wouldn’t react as Gilly did. Gilly wants to keep the dead baby for her own, so she takes it home and buries it in her yard. I really wondered about Gilly and Sally then. What kind of young girls were they? Who finds a dead baby and decides to keep it instead of telling the authorities? Little does she know that because she takes off with the dead baby, two more children will be murdered.
When Gilly’s mom dies, she must return for her funeral. So many years have passed since she has been home. Gilly comes to the realization that she didn’t really know her own mother, not after the kind, friendly comments the people of the town kept making about her.
After her arrival, children begin to disappear again. And flowers are being put on baby strollers again. She has to find out what really happened all those years ago. Where had that dead baby come from?
I realize that marriage is viewed a bit differently in Japan than it is in the States, but still, Toshi is a jerk. I don’t see how or understand why Gilly was still married to him. I wonder why Gilly ever married him to begin with. I gave a shout of joy when he announced he was going back to Japan without her.
Toshi wasn’t the only unlikeable character though. Gilly’s hometown is filled with weird unlikable people. At least one of them had something to do with the dead baby found all those years ago. Which of them was involved? And why? What were they thinking?
I received this book from Virtual Author Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Would I recommend this book to others? Yes, I definitely would. The dead baby is told about on page one—It’s under that tree that my friend Sally and I buried a dead baby girl we’d found in the town cemetery a few hours earlier, in a box hidden in the long grass. That sentence captured my attention and promised a fantastic story. Anyone who likes suspenseful thrillers would enjoy this book. And that sentence lived up to its promise: Dead Reckoning was a great read.
The ending had me pacing the floors and holding my breath. Gilly has at long last discovered the truth. But will she live to tell it?
Amazon Link: Dead Reckoning
Recommended Article: Challenges I Faced as an American Living in Japan – Guest Post by Lea O’Harra
New Words Learned:
hidey hole – an area or space used as a hiding place
Postum – a powdered roasted grain beverage popular as a coffee substitute.
Note: Gilly can’t find any coffee in her mom’s house, so she fixes her husband and her brother a cup of Postum. It must’ve tasted bad because her brother spits out most of the first drink he takes.
truncated – shortened by or as if by having a part cut off
wrench– a sharp, distressing strain, as to the feelings
Favorite Sentences:
I wonder if there’s any redemption, any forgiveness for our sins.
She picks her way through the junk like a cat burglar threading herself through the field of lasers between her and the crown jewels.
Nick leans back in his chair, staring at me like a professional photographer thinking how he should dress a promising model.
Holding my breath, I brace myself for death, expecting to feel at any moment the sensation of cold metal slicing through my throat or piercing my chest, the blade aimed at my heart.
About the Author:
Lea O’Harra is the pen name I have adopted for my so-called Inspector Inoue mystery series. Originally Wendy Jones, since my marriage, Wendy Jones Nakanishi, I was born in America in 1954 and raised in a tiny town in the northwest corner of Indiana. Once I reached adulthood, I longed for travel and adventure. I have now lived outside the States most of my life. I did an MA at Lancaster University and a doctorate at Edinburgh University. I lived in Japan for thirty-six years, employed at a small private university. I retired in the spring of 2020 and now alternate my time between my house in Lancaster and my house in Takamatsu, on the island of Shikoku. My husband is a Japanese farmer; I am the mother of three sons.
I have published numerous academic articles and critical monographs and book reviews as well as writing creative non-fiction about my life in Japan. The Inspector Inoue mystery series marked my first venture into crime fiction. It is comprised of: Imperfect Strangers (2015), Progeny (2016), and Lady First (2017). They are dissections of the dark underbelly of Japanese society as much as they are murder mysteries. These three books originally were published by Endeavour Press (the UK). They have recently been reissued by my new publisher, Sharpe Books (the UK), as well as a fourth thriller entitled Dead Reckoning — a standalone set in the American Midwest — published in September 2022.
2 comments for “Dead Reckoning – a Review”