Quentin is a true-crime podcaster. The story that he is working on deals with a teenage couple from the 1970s, April and Gabriel. They had been on the run, but records show that they both died in a fire. Quentin is particularly insterested in them because his mother's little sister was murdered by April and Gabriel.
Quentin contacts Robin, who he believes to be the daughter of Robin and he wants to find out if April really died in the reported fire, or if she somehow survived. Robin thinks that he is insane and tells him that she doesn’t want to talk to him. Until a strange invasion happens at her parents' home, leaving them both shot. Now Robin is wondering who her mother really is. . .
All of this is taking a great toll on Quentin. . . A new person enters the scene, named Nicola. She claims that she was good friends with Robin’s mother, Renee. Nicola also said that she use to watch Robin. So what is really going on here?
With so many different things going on, and people claiming things that may or may not be true, will the truth ever be revealed?
NEVER LOOK BACK by Allison Gaylin is a great cat and mouse story. It takes an old murder case and brings it back to life many years later. There is some back and forth in this book. It starts with April writing letters to her future daughter. Then it tells the story of Quentin and why he is so interested in this murder. Then there is Robin who might be the daughter of a murderer.
Gaylin also has a way of telling a story of a little lost boy Quentin, who only really wanted to be loved by his mother and grandfather. Robin is a woman with mixed emotions. Gaylin also has a way of making you first hate a character and then loving them. I did feel sorry for all of them. This is a great thriller - a must-read!
For thirteen days in 1976, teenage murderers April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy terrorized Southern California's Inland Empire, killing a dozen victims before perishing themselves in a fire... or did they? More than 40 years later, twentysomething podcast producer Quentin Garrison blames his troubled upbringing on the murders. And after a shocking message from a source, he has reason to believe April Cooper may still be alive.
Meanwhile, New York City film columnist Robin Diamond is coping with rising doubts about her husband and terrifying threats from internet trolls. But that's nothing compared to the outrageous phone call she gets from Quentin... and a brutal home invasion that makes her question everything she ever believed in. Is Robin's beloved mother a mass murderer? Is there anyone she can trust?
Told through the eyes of those destroyed by the Inland Empire Killings—including Robin, Quentin, and a fifteen-year-old April Cooper—Never Look Back asks the question: How well do we really know our parents, our partners—and ourselves?
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