Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

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Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Fast-paced, compelling crime thriller…
Donnelly’s return to historical fiction shines.

5stars

Synopsis

These Shallow Graves coverFrom Jennifer Donnelly, the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of A Northern Lightand Revolution, comes a mystery about dark secrets, dirty truths, and the lengths to which people will go for love and revenge. For fans of Elizabeth George and Libba Bray, These Shallow Graves is the story of how much a young woman is willing to risk and lose in order to find the truth.

Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly.

Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort shot himself while cleaning his pistol. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was a partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.

The more Jo hears about her father’s death, the more something feels wrong. Suicide is the only logical explanation, and of course people have started talking, but Jo’s father would never have resorted to that. And then she meets Eddie—a young, smart, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. But now it might be too late to stop.

The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and this time the truth is the dirtiest part of all.

My Review

As first seen on USA Today

“If you’re going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl. Shallow graves give up their dead.”

From author Jennifer Donnelly comes a twisted tale of secrets, murder, love and revenge. This historical thriller delivers a riveting whodunit story ideal for readers who enjoy period pieces and murder mysteries. Our story unfurls in the late 1890s, in Victorian New York — a time where high-society elites worked to stay ahead of the middle class, flaunting wealth and arranging marriages like business transactions between well-to-do, old-monied families.

When shipping business magnate Charles Montfort is found dead, the city’s high society is shaken. Charles accidentally shot himself while cleaning his pistol. Daughter Jo is devastated at the news, incredulous to hear her father died by his own hand.

“Killed by a gun. His own gun. Accidentally. That’s what everyone said. But it just wasn’t possible.”

Jo’s sharp mind swirls with doubt, especially when she overhears a suggestion that there could be more to the story.

Despite knowing she will likely marry a man she does not love, forced to play house as the happy socialite wife, Jo dreams of breaking free from her family’s traditions to become a gutsy, fearless reporter. And coupled with vengeance, it’s her affinity for journalism, to unearth the truth, that propels her to dig up a dirty past she never knew existed.

“The truth costs, Jo. Dearly.”

Jo teams up with ambitious reporter Eddie Gallagher, sleuthing around, digging up leads. The more they dig, however, the more they uncover, the dirtier the truths seem to be. Worst of all, danger looms closely behind as they race to find the truth.

Donnelly will keep you on the edge of your seat with this fast-paced, tightly written page turner about a girl’s quest to find her father’s killer and to ultimately seize the freedom she’s always longed for.

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2 Comments:


  1. Kathleen said:

    Definitely adding this to my TBR list!

    Reply

    1. VBB Post author said:

      Hope you enjoy it Kathleen!!!

      Reply

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