ABOUT THE BOOK:
An accomplished photographer and the devoted mom of an adorable little boy, Allie Ross has just moved to an upscale DC suburb, the kind of place where parenting feels like a competitive sport. Allie's desperate to make a good first impression. Then she's framed for murder.
It all starts at a neighborhood party when a local dad corners Allie and calls her by an old, forgotten nickname from her dark past. The next day, he is found dead.
Soon, the police are knocking at her door, grilling her about a supposed Tinder relationship with the man, and pulling up texts between them. She learns quickly that she's been hacked and someone is impersonating her online. Her reputation--socially and professionally--is at stake; even her husband starts to doubt her. As the killer closes in, Allie must reach back into a past she vowed to forget in order to learn the shocking truth of who is destroying her life.
MY REVIEW:
I Don't Forgive You by Aggie Blum ThompsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I Don’t Forgive You by Aggie Blum Thompson is a 2021 Forge publication.
Crazy, Creepy, and Atmospheric!
Allie and her husband, Mark, along with their young son, have recently moved to DC- settling in an affluent neighborhood. Things go horribly awry after the couple attends a neighborhood party. Allie is assaulted in the restroom, which is bad enough- but when her attacker is later found dead, Allie finds herself a person of interest in the case after a fake Tinder account is found in her name.
From there, one thing after another, points to a deliberate smear campaign against Allie- an attempt to not only ruin her life, but to frame her for murder. The question is… Why?
As it turns out, Allie is harboring secrets from her past- and it looks as though she's been found her out. Is someone from her past seeking revenge, or has someone closer to her discovered Allie's dark secrets- like her less than charming sister in law- or even Mark?
The setup for this novel is unnerving- seriously unsettling- and draws from current fears of identity theft, and deep fakes. In fact, just a few weeks ago, I read an article about a woman who made deep fake videos of her daughter’s cheerleading competitors, which depicted them exhibiting behavior that would get them kicked off the squad. Just goes to show how anyone with the right computer skills could easily make one look guilty of something they didn’t do.
With just the slightest bit of evidence that points to a person’s guilt, the cops might latch on to that theory and run with it. Happens all the time. This is what makes the plot so disturbingly plausible.
The author did a great job with Allie’s character. Thinking about the way the story develops, Allie is the one who carries most of the burden in the novel. The secondary characters do their part- and do it well- as there is not one person Allie can completely trust.
Yet, Allie’s behavior can look a lot like self-sabotage –such as consuming copious amounts of alcohol, which doesn’t help her reputation much. Her one -woman show is harrowing, tense, edgy and very suspenseful.
We could stop there, and I’d be satisfied, as the book delivered what I was expecting it to. Yet, this one stands out just a bit more because although the author stuck to the format's requisite rules, she broke form by taking the genre into deeper, darker, and more emotional territory than your garden variety psych thriller. I do hope readers will pick up on the more meaningful messages in the story, beyond the surface chills and thrills.
While one does experience the usual relief as the roller coaster ride coasts to a stop, the reader isn’t let completely off the hook, as the complexities and emotional aspects continue to linger after the last page is turned… as they should.
GRAB A COPY HERE:
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Forgive-Aggie-Blum-Thompson-ebook/dp/B08GJRPXHM/
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Forgive-Aggie-Blum-Thompson-ebook/dp/B08GJRPXHM/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Aggie worked as a newspaper reporter, covering cops, courts, and trials, with a healthy dose of the mundane mixed in. Her writing has appeared in newspapers such as The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. A native New Yorker, she now lives just over the Washington D.C. line in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband, two children, cat, and dog.
