Status Updates From Twenty Years Later

So the foundations really are there and author proved they can think up a thrilling murder mystery idea but the execution lacked the clear vision as the erroneous plots and subplots and everyone having their own secret backstory just bogged down the pacing and my attention span

3* don’t regret reading and see the vision but needing a really good editor to tell this author “no”"

P.S. I told this story to two coworkers (left out the romance subplot and downplayed screen time dedicated to brother and father) I focused on the murder mystery and both coworkers were gagged.

-a lot going on that is either unimportant or boring (romance subplot, and while the father/brother angle was a good subplot to connect the motivations for Avery it became almost too main plot at one point, also Walt had his own sad backstory that I didn’t need) and all this affected the…
-pacing! It started interesting and ended interesting, most of the middle got bogged down and was a tough listen

+an actual twist ending, Victoria had me gagged (though I wished Avery’s brother working for their father was mentioned in his backstory flashback PRIOR to the reveal)
+mystery of Cameron’s murder
+Avery was career-driven and focused on this documentary
-graphic audio VA
-boring characters
-romance was unnecessary, not believable; we didn't have time to waste on it

her bro (notably not her dad, which I always thought was weird cuz her dad was def not a good guy so it does make sense all this wasn’t for him I just didn’t know why)

TLDR

I think there are solid foundations, the murder mystery was a good mystery with a satisfying conclusion. The general public will prob enjoy this book but I had some issues with the execution, bloat and bland characters to justify such a length

The two plot twists at the end were honestly the best part, I’m so used to strong beginnings that fall flat in conclusion it was weird to see it happen the other way around. Victoria being alive was a good teaser twist as it is completely guessable but Victoria writing her novel w the MC being wrong was gold. And knowing that Avery can’t (or won’t) say anything because they know she did the same thing for

bro out and didn’t fall for him. But she did fall for him. So? Also his ex gf helping cuz she owed him one is pretty ridiculous.

I won’t go into having 9/11 being exploitative. I think the author could have invented a tragedy and been fine.

If I have to nitpick, the lack of COVID presence was weird considering it was set in 2021 and really relied on the years being part of the story

But once again, I did not care for the team-up to romance pipeline nor did I buy into it. I just don’t think the foundation for trust HAS to come through a romantic connection. Not to mention the mistrust was completely glossed over once confronted with it. So what was the point of this will he won’t he double cross? It would only make sense that she didn’t care that much by then cuz she only cared about getting her

vs actually just having a past chapter and sometimes I wasn’t engaged enough to realize where we were in the timeline. And at one point the actual murder is secondary to Avery’s past and even more so to the possible romance/betrayal subplot. Also sometimes info would be repeated across chapters which for a long book makes it more bloated but I guess with so many subplots you need this?

So, idk how to feel. I’m neck-deep in thrillers/mysteries for the year so not much wows me at this point but I will say maybe if I read this instead of using the audiobook I might have had a better experience. The VAs were not entertaining at all and all convos came out dull. There were also many plots and subplots. I do love a timeline back and forth but sometimes we’d flashback in a present day chapter

Natalie and Victoria bicker over the newest murder mystery novel, the MC will get the case wrong and the only way to dupe her would be the culprit planted their own blood at the scene of the crime

What actually happened was Victoria WAS a woman scorned, she planted all the evidence so it looked like someone was framing her then killed Cameron

Avery’s specials on Cameron’s case and Victorias innocence gains massive popularity along w her expose on her dad who’s now in jail. She used her signing bonus to start bank acct for her brother and then paid all the money back to surrogate mom that their dad lost her

Her brother was a genius in math and ended up being his fathers financial analyst, he unknowingly contributed to the Ponzi scheme so before the feds would catch wind of it he asked Avery to help fake his death on the boat and stayed w their surrogate mother for 3 years in hiding

Walt reaches out to his ex for help, her family owns cruise lines

Avery calls her dad w the FBI listening device on, she asks to meet him at the cabin then gives it to the FBI to keep them occupied

Her brother and the ex board a cruise ship together in New Orleans to Jamaica to have him stay in Walt’s house on the island

Avery hints to Natalie that she knows Victoria is alive and she helped her disappear, so she asks how she did it cuz Avery has to get someone out of the country too

She confronts Walt w the photos and just asks if his own sob story about his ex is true he says yes then she says she needs help w her father HUH just like that? Wasn’t she just reprimanding herself for being too trusting ??

Walt visits ME from the case 29 years ago and asks about chemicals found in the blood and urine, guy says urine was over 24 hrs old (Cameron was hung less than 24 hrs prior to the sample) and the pesticides and chemicals were from a tampon, so the blood was most likely planted

Avery goes thru hoops to meet passport guy cuz she’s being followed, inside the envelope is the passport and pics of Walt tailing her

Walt shows Avery the sex tape and she notes it’s off center and doesn’t stop recording when he uses his safe word, it was a motion-sensor recording of 60 sec

He sneaks a peek at the postcard from her dad

DNA match was a tooth bone that was sifted from the rubble a year after 9/11

She thinks that she might have used this as an excuse to disappear, the voicemail puts her in the tower and Natalie was an ER Dr before retiring to become a writer so maybe she helped her then Victoria writes for her to publish, also she goes to Santorini every time she is about to finish a book (maybe meets Victoria there?)

they are sailing knots and that whoever tied them it was done w both hands but there’s no blood if she cut herself… but since the ME also said it took both hands so they ruled out suicide how did Walt not ask where’s all the blood?? I guess cuz it’s his first case idk. They note that Cameron’s wife Tessa was an avid sailor

They slept together and she sneaks out

Avery gets childhood things of Victoria’s from her sister, Emma. She finds her manuscripts that never got published and they are the exact same as Natalie’s famous MC in her novels but Emma said Victoria was fiercely protective of her writing not even her husband could see them

Avery/Walt go over Cameron’s case, Victorias blood urine and fingerprints were at the scene but Avery says the ME was wrong about the knots

FBI agent meets w Walt in his hotel to go over Avery’s visits for the day, she went into a luxurious apt for 20 min, a man known for procuring false documents and passports, he says for Walt to do what he can to gain access to her hotel room, thus creating a trope that I could read in a ff w much better writing

Walt/Avery meet again, she tries to find out why he rly left his retirement in Jamaica doesn’t believe it’s just cuz she called… if this turns romantic I’m out

Walt attended his partners funeral after being discharged from icu and meets his late partners wife, Megan the woman he was seeing

After dinner they almost kiss -_-

Walt follows Avery, she goes see where brothers grave and then Victorias lawyer that made it out, she finds out not just Tessa was pregnant but Victoria had an abortion months prior (Cameron’s baby) and the complications left her infertile, the DA was sketchy and eventually disbarred

Next she meets w trashy novelist Natalie and Victoria’s bff (that’s 3 writers in the story so far) Bictorias college roommate

Avery speaks to Victoria’s sister who has a voicemail right before she died on 9/11 saying to prove her innocence

She then speaks w Walt and he’s upfront about being retired FBI (rn he’s on payroll as independent contractor jic she goes snooping)

Walt goes to ME who examines Cameron’s body, he was given oral but did not complete before dying, was whipped and choked but probably died on accident then person freaked and hung him to make it look like suicide

He was having an affair on his wife Tessa with their friend, Victoria. Tessa was pregnant

Victoria/Cameron bdsm tape leaked to press, her rope was found in her car and her DNA is all over the crime scene

Walt met his ex gf Megan at the convention, they broke up after his injury and he hates her for some reason idk yet, some scandal broke out after the shooting

His old supervisor tracks him down in Jamaica to ask him about his first murder case from when he was a cop, that Avery is investigating it and the FBI is keeping tabs on her to see if she knows where her dad is

Her dad despite being a flight risk was let out on bail and left the country, she dk where he is but he sent her a card years later

Her brother died in a boating accident years ago, she’s an accomplished sailor and Connie her instructor is like a mom to her

Walt, retired FBI agent after taking 2 bullets attends trauma survivor convention

Victoria’s DNA is at crime scene of a man hanging from his building, she dies in 9/11 and 20 years later is ID’d w DNA

Avery, news anchor negotiating contract for her second season after record-breaking ratings; her father was a billionaire and imprisoned for Ponzi scheme so she changed her name, travels cross country to work on news story of Victoria, meeting her only living kin Emma