Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

i know there was a post on the aol board about this book- i think cathy wrote it? i didn't read it because i was saving it for when i finished the book. anyway, i finished it last night. this was not my favorite shreve. i found it kind of confusing and it took me a while to figure out who was who. her writing almost seemed stilted to me.. but maybe that was me.
anyone else read it?

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Here's my take on Testimony from my Goodreads review supplemented by my original AOL spoiler post:
Sometimes timing is everything. I really liked this book. It held my interest and was a definite page-turner. I wanted to know what happened and why. The skanky headmaster....wanted to slap him silly! I was glad to see that Rob is going to be OK in the end. I can see this as a Lifetime movie, like The Pilot's Wife.
Added to my review on Booktopia:



I checked out Testimony three times and had to take it back unread twice before I finally had time to sit and read it. It is, however, a quick read. I read it in one evening. The approach was pretty unique and, for me, it worked. I know it hasn't for some folks, however.
At a boarding school in Vermont, a sex "party" is taped. The story unfolds with first or third person perspective from various folks, some directly involved and some not as much. The frame is that a researcher is doing a study two years after the incident, although the researcher isn't actually part of the story. In some of the chapters, it's first person with the person speaking directly to the researcher in one-on-one interviews. In others, it's third person.
I rated the book pretty highly, five stars on Goodreads. It was definitely a page turner. I did have trouble sometimes remembering who people were and the role they played in the story.
Also, I disagree with her perspective that this would be as big news as Shreve seems to think it would be. Sure, regionally. It would get a blip nationally but not in the terms she said in the book. 10 days running nationally? Nah. Not the incident itself, although I can see the death might elevate it to that. But not a town under siege as she described, imo. And I am a former reporter.
She downplays how elite the school is, as if it's struggling. So, no, not that much media attention, imo, except regionally.
I didn't like the headmaster and I suppose we weren't meant to. His weakness is what led to much of what happened - Silas' involvement and his attempted coverup. I think part of the message of the book is how our missteps affect others and have unintended consequences. I fully expected the headmaster to kill himself, but that didn't happen.
Also, it has been noted in some forums that Shreve frequently makes adultery a theme in her writing and I have wondered about her personal life, if there is a reason for that. I think she oftens portrays adultery in a more sympathetic light than she did in this one. For which I'm glad.

thanks for sharing, cathy.
i totally could see this as a lifetime movie. it would be perfect!
and i also agree that timing is everything. i almost wish i had put this down and tried again in a week or so- i think i might have liked it more. i normally like books written in multiple voices but i just thought she had so many voices and from the beginning, none were clear to me. even in the middle of the book i was getting them mixed up..lol

Yeah, I had that problem too!