Website columnist Robin Diamond is shocked when crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison contacts her and implies that Robin's mother was involved in a couple of murders back in the 70s. Robin is quite sure that this is impossible, but she can't help wondering why she knows so little about her mother's past. There is no way her mother could have participated in a murder spree. And, beside both killers are dead, so there is no way her mother could be a killer. Then, tragedy strikes when someone breaks in and shots both her parents. Could this have something to do with the old murder case?

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION! ( )

Quentin/Dean relationship is smarmy and twee. At least the writer acknowledges the NBK rip off. Not sure I'll finish. Summer is an asshole. Nicola is a moron. Scared of fish. ( )

Talk about complex family dynamics! After finishing, my head is still reeling and I need an index of all the characters. While I did have most of the story figured out I still managed to stay engaged the entire way through. I enjoyed the story being told with journal entries and a sort of podcast point-of-view. ( )

Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin is an intriguing mystery about a podcast producer who takes a look at a case that hits close to home.

Quentin Garrison is working on his newest podcast project in hopes of finding some measure of peace about his conflicted relationship with his mother. His family's history is deeply intertwined with a murderous spree killing that took place in 1976. Teenagers April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy murdered twelve victims before dying in a fire at a commune. Quentin never knew his father and his mother Kate was an addict who neglected him throughout his childhood. With the help of his best friend and podcast co-producer Summer Hawkins and his husband Dean, Quentin has worked hard to moved on from his unhappy past. At Summer's urging, Quentin hopes their latest project will help him forever close the door on the harm he experienced at the hands of his indifferent mother.

However, an unexpected tip takes the podcast in an entirely new direction when a source offers proof that April Cooper did not perish in the fire and is in fact, living in New York under a new identity. Hoping to find definitive proof that Renee Bloom is really April Cooper, Quentin journeys to New York where not long after reaching out to Renee's daughter, movie columnist Robin Diamond, both Renee and her husband Mitchell are victims of a violent home invasion. Could the attack just be an unfortunate coincidence? Quentin does not believe that is the case, and eventually neither does Robin. But will either of them uncover the truth about who is behind the attack and why?

Robin initially dismisses Quentin's suggestion that her mother could be April Cooper. But after the attack on her parents, she does begin to wonder about Renee's past. Her mother has always been unusually close-lipped about her life before marrying Robin's father. When a barely remembered person from her childhood unexpectedly turns up, Robin is initially happy to reconnect with a friend of her mother's. Robin is surprised by some of the information she learns, but do any of these revelations mean there is anything nefarious lurking in Renee's distant childhood?

Chapters featuring letters from April detail the terrifying events playing out in 1976. April is at first a coerced accomplice to Gabriel's murders. But as her enforced captivity continues, she eventually becomes more than an unwilling victim forced into accompanying him as Gabriel continues murdering with impunity. These chapters are increasingly unsettling as April's plans come to a chilling end.

Written from various perspectives, Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin is a clever mystery with a unique premise. The storyline is interesting but the pacing is a little slow. Savvy readers will most likely piece together the truth long before the somewhat convoluted yet satisfying conclusion. Fans of the genre will most likely enjoy this innovative mystery.
( )

April Cooper is forced into a killing spree by her boyfriend, Gabriel LeRoy in 1976. Now, years later, Quentin Garrison attempts to reopen the story in a podcast called “Closure”. Quentin’s mother was a victim of the shooting rampage, because her sister was killed, and she never recovered from the trauma of her parent’s heartache over the death of her sister. As Quentin digs into the past, he finds an link to a woman named Renee Bloom, and reaches out to Renee’s daughter, Robin Diamond.
As he digs into the story, many connections are revealed, and debating events take place. The end is surprising.
This was a carefully crafted novel with many twists.
#NeverLook Back #AlisonGaylin ( )