Z’s Reviews > Twenty Years Later > Status Update

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