Plot Twist

As someone whose favorite book genre is mysteries and suspense thrillers, I was ecstatic to get my hands on a copy of Plot Twist by Donna J. Thompson. I could not believe this book was Donna’s first novel as it was organized and written so well with the most satisfying twists and turns that I would have expected her to be a veteran writer.

Readers are introduced to Springfield detective Karl Larkin, a man who always gets his man, and Larkin’s partner Ted Cramer. A call comes in from a wealthy member of the community, Lawrence Cromwell. It seems Lawrence’s wife, Julie, is missing, and he has a note from the kidnappers. Sounds like a pretty straightforward case for the detectives, right? Wrong! As Larkin and Cramer soon find out, Julie is not liked by many, and that includes her own family members. She is found dead, and Larkin starts interviewing everyone she knows. He even goes back to her hometown, where she was known as Julie Collins before marrying Lawrence.

What Thompson truly excels at is giving her readers a bit of information and letting them stew over it as Larkin continues to gather more information. For example, there is a gun that is found at the scene of the crime that may be the same gun reported stolen by Julie’s stepdaughter, Cassie. But Thompson doesn’t tell us if the gun was hers or not. Instead, Larkin ends up finding himself in a romantic affair with Cassie. As I was reading this, I kept hoping that Larkin wouldn’t get cloudy vision because of the conflict of interest. Of course, we find out later what happened with the gun. I also really loved the intensity as Larkin finally realizes whodunnit and races against time to try and save the next victim. When he says out loud, “I know who killed Julie Cromwell. Just get over to 32 Mary Street, and hurry.” my eyes went wide, and I tried hard not to skim the pages to find out whom he had figured out the killer was. By Thompson not following his exclamation with “it’s [enter killer’s name here],” she gives her readers that little adrenaline rush we all get when a mystery is about to be solved.

Another great aspect of this book was the many secrets the Cromwell and Collins families kept. These family secrets will make its readers ooh, ahh, and gasp as they are revealed. Some of them are just so twisted.

I really hope there are more Larkin novels in Thompson’s future. This is a book I would read again, and I would recommend it to all lovers of mysteries and suspense novels. This is your next best read.