I have a major bone to pick with one important plot point in here, but the story is compelling enough and the characters and structure are interesting enough to mostly forgive or ignore that one point. ( )

Nice character driven plot; god job of creating 5 different main characters. However the body count seems a little unbelievably high. I guess you need dead bodies in a murder mystery, but still ... ( )

Another book about how silly Catholics are without mentioning them by name. ( )

Penance. A punishment. Something done to repent a sin. How does someone atone for something that was never their fault? Five young girls went out to play but only four ever made it home. Those four girls did not witness the murder, but they did see the murderer, and the body, and have to live with the trauma. As if that were not enough, the killer was not caught, and the mother of the victim blamed them. In the course of that single event, the lives of these four girls was forever changed, and affected every aspect of their lives as they grew from happy children to the troubled young women that they were never meant to be. 4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review. ( )

I originally wrote this review for my blog: https://turnthepage.travel.blog/2019/05/02/penance-by-kanae-minato/

This book is focuses on the murder of a ten year old girl named Emily in a small Japanese village. There are six chapters in this book, all set fifteen years after the crime. The first four chairs describe the day of the murder from the perspective of each of Emily’s four friends, as well as giving the reader a glimpse into their home lives and also done information about how they have grown up. The second last chapter is written from the perspective of Emily’s mother, and the final chapter is a short conclusion.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how different each character was, and how uniquely each girl was effected by the death of their friend. I found the book to be very believable and at no point did I feel that this was written be someone who had never experienced this tragedy. Each chapter tied beautifully into each other, and helped in telling the story and clarifying the plot.

One of the biggest things that I liked about this book was how quickly it changed my opinions of some characters – a person who seems to be so genuinely selfless and kind can become a monster within paragraphs, similarly a heartless individual can suddenly, and convincingly, become relatable and sincere. This is all done through that specific character, or a character who is involved in their story, being given their own chapter and having their tale told fully.

This is a very dark book at times, it contains details of murder and child molestation, but I didn’t find that these topics were dwelled on or give into more detail than was necessary.

I would strongly advise this book to anyone who is looking for a short, well written, twist filled thriller with brilliant character development and a satisfying conclusion. ( )