Review - The Field of Wrongdoing by Lili St. Germain
I received a free ARC from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
The Field of Wrongdoing was a tough read for me. This mystery/thriller is gritty, violent, and shocking. It is definitely not for readers sensitive to sexual violence, murder, kidnapping, gore, child abuse, drug use, or language. I found the description of the book to be misleading as well.
I do think the premise of this book is a good one. The characters are generally well-written. The mystery is intriguing. I have no problems with the writing beyond the graphic content. This book follows Leo and his girlfriend Cassie, starting with a gruesome discovery outside Leo’s home (note: not in a field and not discovered by Cassie, as the book description indicates). This event changes their lives in awful ways and neither of them are ever the same afterward.
Later on, Leo is involved in a car accident, the circumstances of which send him to prison for 8 years. The story picks back up when he is released and returns home. Another teenage girl goes missing soon afterward, and the police try to pin her disappearance on Leo. Cassie eventually discovers the truth about these crimes.
I won’t give too much away, but all the crimes in the story are linked. There is also a subplot about Leo’s siblings and mother, which is also disturbing and violent. Pretty much all of the characters in this book are terrible people who make awful choices. A few side characters are okay, like Amanda and Chris, but they have very little to do with the story as a whole. There is not much redemption for anyone and there is a lot of sex, violence, and death. Yes, the ultimate “bad guys” get what’s coming to them, but other peripheral characters get no answers.
I decided ultimately to give this book three stars because I think it was well-written and well-plotted. I couldn’t give it more stars because I hated most of the characters and I don’t enjoy reading the sort of graphic content found in this book.
The Field of Wrongdoing is available now.
