Expiation

by Patricia Mac Donald, Roxane Azimi (Translator)

She swore she was innocent.
Maggie Fraser has tried to forget.
The body of the man she loved.
The blood seeping into the snow.
The scandalous murder trial.

The twelve agonizing years in prison for a crime she did not commit. But now Maggie is free -- and ready to start a new life. Alone. Unknown. On a quiet island off the coast of New England, she accepts a job with the local newspaper. And slowly, she tries to put the past behind her, opening her heart to the paper's ruggedly handsome editor, Jess Herlie. Then the nightmare begins...again.

Now she must pay.

Someone is watching Maggie's every move -- and waiting for revenge. Someone who refuses to forgive and forget. Someone who would do anything, even destroy innocent lives, to teach the guilty that there is no sanctuary, no escape, for...

The Unforgiven

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Contemporary, Crime

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Edgar Award-nominated debut was well deserved. A suspenseful psychological thriller, with it's share of gruesome effects. For a thirty year old novel, debut or not by a young author...it was one of those fast can't-put-down reads. I will be looking for some of her other novels.

[Sélèna Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai vraiment adorée ma lecture, au début ça va au ralentis un peu t’apprend à connaître un peu les personnages comment ils sont et agissent. Vers le milieu du roman, ça commence à te tenir en haleine. Tu peux pu t’arrêter de lire!

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery]

I pretty much abandoned my ABC reading challenge for this year.
My family has had a lot going on this year and then I went through depression and reading slumps; I wasn't interested in much of anything, including reading.

I didn't finish this book so there will not be a rating.

I'm hopeful that things will be better now.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quite predictable plot with some naive characters.

2* Secret Admirer
2* The Unforgiven

[Julie Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another dark and disturbing psychological thriller where insanity is not always easy to spot.

However, I thought some characters were naive and stupid, but then that made for a compelling story.

It was well written, fast-paced and engaging with a twisty plot.

Recommended.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the earliest and best novel by MacDonald. It's very dark with good characterization.

[Anu Korpinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ja puoli tähteä. Tämä vuonna 1981 ilmestynyt trilleri oli nopealukuinen ja vetävä, mutta ehkä hiukan ennalta-arvattava. Päähenkilö Maggie Fraser on istunut 12 vuoden tuomion murhasta, jota hän ei ole tehnyt. Vapauduttuaan hän lähtee työpaikan toivossa etäiselle saarelle, jonka tiivis yhteisö ei suhtaudu kovin suopeasti vieraisiin. Maggien ympärillä tuntuu tapahtuvan kaikenlaista kummaa ja kirja onkin antoisin kuvatessaan Maggien epävarmuutta ja pelkotiloja yhä uhkaavammaksi muuttuvassa ympäristössä. Lajityypin kliseiltä ei vältytä, tosin vuonna 1981 vertailukohdat olivat varmaan toiset. Tuskastuin esimerkiksi heti kun Maggie alkoi haaveilla lemmikistä, sillä tiedän miten trillereissä/dekkareissa käy päähenkilön lemmikeille. Tämä kirja ei ollut poikkeus, Maggien seurakseen hankkima koiranpentu Willie kokee ikävähkön lopun. Triggeröidyn eläimiin kohdistuvasta väkivallasta, joten ehkä otan asian liian vakavasti, mutta tää tietty juonikuvio on toistuu lajityypissä monasti. Monasti, monasti, monasti...

Yksi asia joka kirjassa hämmensi, mutta myös kiehtoi, oli suomenkielinen nimi. Valikoin kirjan kierrätyskeskuksesta luettavaksi pelkästään nimen perusteella, mutta en nyt luettuani ymmärrä miten se oikeastaan liittyy tarinaan. Alkukielinen nimi 'The Unforgiven' on paljon kuvaavampi. Oli oikein mukava lukea vähän vanhempaa trilleriä, jossa aikakausi on aivan erilainen. Lukijana minulle jäi mieleen erityisesti eräs kohtaus jossa yksi päähenkilöistä kaivaa ravintolaillan päätteksi piipun ja tupakkamassin esiin. Siinä vaiheessa oikein tajusin että tässä ollaan siellä 70-80-lukujen taitteessa, jolloin piipunpoltto oli varmasti yleisempää. :D

[Kiki⚜Franglaise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas le meilleur opus de cette autrice mais néanmoins plaisant à lire, quoiqu'assez convenu et prévisible.

[Rock NeverStops · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun, kind of suspenseful premise. Then things started to get cliché and characters did dumb things. my eyes rolled more than a few times while reading this "murder-mystery."
Girl gets out of prison. Many questions about her crime. Girl goes to place out in the boonies to start a new life. Things are not what they seem. Band things start to happen. Can girl ever escape her past? Blah.

not the worst thing I've read but it was not good. This was my first Patricia J. McDonald book and it was written some 30 years ago. I would like to try a more recent one to see if her writing style has evolved. Also, this is the first time I've ever been let down by a Stephen King blurb. Makes me wonder if he ever got paid for those because I can't believe he thought this book was "scary and engrossing."

[Diana H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a slow starter, but once you get into the plot, this is an amazing story. I thought the end was rather abrupt, but all the questions were answered, so I guess that's just the end of the story.

[Farryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected, but a good thriller. The ending is a little predictable and a bit corny. The main female character was annoyingly weak, and the "no one believes her and she's incapable of explaining herself" trope is tired. Otherwise, it was a good story that kept me engaged to the end.

[Sean McDonough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Characters that are all dumb as rocks ("Pie full of broken glass? Surely just an accident. Nothing sinister going on there!") but plenty of drama and tension and one hell of a good psycho villain.

[Reevrb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow..!

Incredibly fast paced and eerie.

[Érica Pinheiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorei o livro! Senti que foi o equilíbrio perfeito entre um bom romance e um bom policial cheio de mistério. Recomendo completamente.

[valerie gosling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Utterly compelling storey unfolds slowly keeping you guessing and turning the pages until the very last page.Marvellous characters first-class plot

[Clare Sanders]

Another Great Read by Patricia MacDonald I enjoy reading her books.

[Margaret Barbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unforgiven by Patricia MacDonald.

A full on, fast moving read, that will keep you unable to put down. I really enjoyed enjoyed it, and wanted to read more of the characters.

[Margaret Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely great storyline and truly fantastic read again from Patricia MacDonald.

[noëlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un-put-downable!!!

The twists in the plot won't allow you to stop reading this book! This was a great read, well written!

[Gage Freeman · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

'The Unforgiven' was a well-paced, romantic, psychological thriller detailing just how much guilt, trauma, and love can impact one another, and the ones around you. It paints such a beautiful yet gruesome image of life on a small New England island town without over-romanticizing the setting. It reads as though you are watching a movie; bouncing from various perspectives, watching as a fly-on-the-wall rather than being subject to a character's individual narration.

I really enjoyed Maggie's character. She has depth, mystery, growth, and acts in accordance with all of the traits the author gives to us about her. Her intense desire to live a quiet, normal life while trying to combat all of the intrusive thoughts and actions that accompany a life of trauma really makes for an interesting, unpredictable character.

Jess was pretty straightforward, and on the surface, he seemed like the morally straight character in the story. I feel like the author poked at the idea of him being driven by loneliness and a touch of haughtiness, while only giving us a few passing examples of this. I did tend to suspect him quite a few times through the read even though there weren't many reasons to. Call it my 2026 bias, but I think this was because there is quite a bit of media being made today about how the charming, stand-up, handsome guy turns out to actually be the villain. I realize that a boss dating his subordinate does in fact make him a bit of a villain, but again, this was written in the 80's so I'm going to assume that wasn't the author's intent.

I have so many mixed feelings towards Evy. She is this very unassuming 19 year old who finds herself in a love triangle with Jess & Maggie, eventually choosing revenge over love. The part I don't really understand is why she is so cruel to her grandmother. I get that she needed to make sure her grandmother didn't spoil her plans, but you'd think that the genuine cruelty and neglect would at least make her feel some sort of way. The other thing that really took me out of it was how she explained her evil plans to her grandmother like a cheesy movie villain. I get that it's the 80's, so that trope hadn't been completely overdone yet, but I do enjoy it much more when authors 'show' instead of 'tell'.

I did really appreciate the author's tact in handling some of the sexual content. Most of the NSFW content was implied, or lightly painted. Similar to movies, an unnecessary or irrelevant sex scene really takes me out of it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and would probably give it 4 stars, up until the end. I was left hungry for some closure or justification for some parts. Like the Sister Dolorita arc. I understand that her purpose was to add to the religious guilt and justification for Maggie's mother disavowing her, but I feel like that mention her so many times that I thought that she or the consequences of that guilt might be a bit more present throughout the book. I wouldn't quite call it a page-turner, but it was fairly enjoyable.

MOVIE FAN CASTS:

Maggie: Elizabeth Olson
Jess: Andrew Scott
Evy: McKenna Grace
Owen: Nick Offerman

[Audrey RZR · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cela faisait un petit moment que je n'avais pas lu de thriller et c'était donc avec enthousiasme que je démarrais ma lecture.
Mais quelle ne fut pas ma déception!
Je n'avais jamais lu de Patricia Cornwell mais la quatrième de couverture mentionnant l'admiration de Stephen King et Mary Higgins Clark, avait aiguisé mon intérêt.
Je saurais dorénavant qu'il faut toujours se méfier de ce genre d'arguments marketing...
Le résumé avait l'air, lui aussi prometteur, nous suivons le retour à la vie normale de Maggie, qui sort de prison et trouve un poste de journaliste en Nouvelle-Angleterre. C'est l'occasion d'un nouveau départ sauf que tout ne se passe pas comme prévu.
L'intrigue n'est pas originale, le suspens peu présent sauf sur la fin mais il n'y a aucune vraie surprise.
J'avais tout compris, ou presque, au milieu du roman.
Les personnages ne sont pas très approfondis, je ne m'y suis pas attachée. L'écriture de l'auteur est plate, sans intérêt.
En gros, passez votre chemin, il y a bien mieux à lire ailleurs!

[Teresa Bonifácio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall it’s a good book. Quite easy to read. I got stuck to it and I really wanted to know what happened and what was going to happen. I just didn’t really liked the end of it. It felt rushed. Just like “hey, this happened, the end”. In these kind of books something like “2 months” later is a good addition. Just so you know that the characters are well and how things were resolved.
The characters are okay, though Maggie sometimes got on my nerves. And Jess? What was that with talking about sex with her out of nowhere? That also felt rushed. Their relationship.

But the worse of all was the death of Willy. Hated it.

[Ana Nabais · Rating 3 out of 5]

É o primeiro livro que leio desta autora e gostei, não é sensacional mas lê-se bem.
Maggie acaba de sair da prisão depois de cumprir uma pena de 12 anos pelo homicídio do seu amante.
Um correspondente seu, director do jornal de uma vila numa ilha oferece-lhe um emprego e a possibilidade de recomeçar a vida num novo local onde ninguém a conhece, o que ela aceita prontamente.
Mas será que é mesmo assim? Desde que chega à ilha vai enfrentar a desconfiança dos habitantes e a sucessão de vários acontecimentos que parecem sempre desfavoráveis para ela e vai ter de lutar para sobreviver perante uma ameaça inesperada.

[Sara Carvalho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adoro a escrita de Patrícia MacDonald. Este já é o meu terceiro. Tem o dom de até aos últimos capítulos eu ter dúvidas sobre quem será o culpado ... Só não gostei do final, no sentido em que gostava que tivesse uma "depois", saber como é que as pessoas reagiram à verdade e tudo isso.
Aconselho mesmo assim !

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly? The Unforgiven is one of those books that sneaks up on you. Nothing flashy happens, and then you realize you've been thinking about it for three days. Patricia MacDonald lets quiet moments do the heavy lifting. It's not for anybody who needs constant action. It is for people who like to sit with a book after the last page.

[Sarah Russell (Miller) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book at the suggestion of my BFFs mom, who is also a reader. The book was written in 1981, but it was good. A quick read. Nothing really exciting but also nice to read a book without all the normal cliche-y things going on right now in the book world.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

É o meu segundo livro da Patricia Macdonald e mais uma vez adorei. Uma escrita cativante, personagens bem definidos, fiquei tão presa ao livro que acabei por termina-lo no próprio dia que comecei a ler!
Só tenho pena que o desfecho se descubra tão cedo, de resto não tenho nada a apontar!

[Coline Ensargueix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas mal mais pas bien. Le plot est un peu prévisible et les personnages sont pas très profonds, un peu naïfs. La fin est pas tellement explicité, genre wtf elle veut juste la tuer par pure rage du coup ? Malgré ça, l’écriture est très bonne donc ça se lit rapidement.

[James · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

Full review Here:

https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...

While this does fall more under thriller than horror, it was a fun distraction. Not great, but amusing.