Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

It was a riveting storyline!

*I was given an e-ARC from NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.* I am a big fan of Lisa Scottoline and have read several of her books. I haven't had the chance to read/review an unedited ARC of hers yet, until now. I hope that any issues I have with the book are due to the fact that it's unedited. **SPOILERS AHEAD** The Bennett family is a loving, normal family driving home from their daughter's softball game when tragedy strikes. What they thought was a fellow motorist in distress turned into a would-be carjacking that ends in the death of one of the members of the family. But it's not that cut-and-dried. The remaining Bennetts are placed in the witness protection program because the "car-jackers" are members of a well-known area gang and the Bennetts lives are all at stake. More tragedy strikes when the Bennett's family home burns down while supposedly being watched over by the FBI. Then, the father's business burns and the mom's photography studio is ransacked. Jason Bennett, the father, works as a court recorder and decides that his experience with that means that he is qualified to do his own investigations into what happened that night. A lot of twists and turns and random connections leads the investigation down a path that nobody considered - Jason's time as a court recorder at Gitmo and a Senator with a Presidential bid. ****************************************************************************************** Like I said, I am big fan of Lisa Scottoline's books. I like her style and her genre - both of which remind me a bit of Jodi Picoult with the court/law backgrounds and tendency to add in little twists that nobody was expecting. However. I am still very unsure how I feel about this book. Like I said, I hope that my issues with it are due to it being unedited (one specific issue - the son is supposed to be around 14 years old but his mannerisms and such are that of a much younger kid. But...he's also dealt with a lot of tragedy in a short amount of time, so maybe that's why.). It's a good book to read if you're in the mood for a quick read with some surprises thrown in.