Black-Eyed Susans by Julia HeaberlinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully crafted and brilliantly conceived thriller about one woman’s fight against relentless evil. It’s 1995 - Tessie Cartwright is a healthy, happy 16 year old star of her High School track team. She is abducted near her home in Fort Worth and more than 30 hours later she awakes, battered and torn, partially buried in a field carpeted with Black-eyed Susans (I had no idea this was a flower and couldn’t help continually thinking about Black-eyed Peas for some reason). Sharing her ‘grave’ are a dead college student and the bones of two other victims.
Tessie tells her story in alternating past and present chapters that describe two points in her life: as a teenager in the months leading up to the trial of Terrell Goodwin, the man accused of abducting her and killing the others; and as a 34 year old, using her grown up name Tessa, resuming her story as Goodwin faces his long-delayed execution….
And that’s enough of the plot. There is much more to it. The pace is perfect, the last 50 pages or so left me breathless. Certainly one of the best books I have read this year. Don’t miss it.
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