Title: The Accusation
Author: Victoria Jenkins
Genre: Psychological/ Domestic Thriller
# of pages: 289
Expected date of publication: 9th June
Published by: Bookouture
The accusation is a complex tale of lies, secrets and manipulation.
Jenna Morgan is an everyday woman who runs a successful coffee shop. She has two daughters, one is a teenager Lily and the other one, an 8-year-old. While coming back from a late-night party she hears a cry for help. She sees a woman being attacked. Before she can intercept the attacker flees. She helps the woman and calls the ambulance. Her act of a good Samaritan doesn’t go well. The victim identifies Jenna as the attacker. Now, she needs to fight not just to save herself but also to save her family’s reputation.
This is my first book by the author and I loved the way she weaved an interesting story of a family facing wrongful accusations. The book is an easy read, and it alternates between past and present. In the past, the author unravels the story of Jenna and how she met with Damien, her present-day husband. There’s something about Jenna I couldn’t put my finger on, but there’ something amiss. It wasn’t related to the incident, but something was off. The book narrative is from Jenna’s POV.
Damien is a wonderful husband and a father. He appears distracted but shows concern about his family. But Jenna is secretive and has a compulsive habit of lying. She keeps hiding important family stuff (not related to the main plot, though). I could not come to like her but I had an intense urge to find out who and why were they accusing Jenna. I also felt that her reaction to the assault charges, that could lead to serious implication, was underwhelming. There was no tension in that situation.
I loved the writer’s writing style. She also painted the scenes and the reactions vividly, especially her teenage daughter’s behaviour. The central theme of the book is lies and secrecy within families. How can one small secret change everyone’s life around them?
The progress towards the end is slow and didn’t feel fitting to the elaborate story. The reader and Jenna could connect dots only at the end.
The premise is intriguing and a onetime read. But the book did not live up to my expectations.
My star is 3.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Confessions of a Reading Freak 