For Better and Worse: A Novel

Vigilante justice and the perfect murder. Except it's not so perfect. What the blurb doesn't give away on the who and why of this one is answered pretty quickly, so there's no suspense on that angle. The suspense here lays in whether or not Will and Nat will get away with it. On an emotional level, any parent can understand and even empathize with this couple's actions - the need to protect our children from harm and the anger and despair when we can't. So, while that part certainly tugs at the heartstrings, I still couldn't find anything likable about this couple other than their love for their son. Natalie is almost robotic as she goes through the motions of life. She's cold and calculating with everyone except Charlie. Will is the more human of the pair, but he's also weak to the point of being spineless. This story does have its moments. There are some truly brilliant scenes, including some that had me on the edge of my seat. The problem is that they are too far and few between. What should've been a steadily rising tension is stilted with too much lag time in the story. We do get a couple of interesting twists, and I did want to see how it came together. So, in the end, there were things I liked and things I didn't, leaving me somewhere in the middle on this one.

Wow