This is a beautifully written and artfully constructed book that sinks its hooks into you and doesn't let go, cliches notwithstanding. Most of the book takes the form of a flashback to recount events that happened in a small Kansas prairie down more than 20 years ago. Jody, the main character, is a 26 year old young woman who was orphaned by those events and she has spent her life, the sole granddaughter of the wealthiest man in town, trying to come to grips. There are plenty of twists and turns and the final denouement comes as a surprise. While nothing in the book feels overly contrived, many things do slip conveniently into place a little too easily at times. Still, this is a good read and one I highly recommend.

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Jody Linder has spent the last 23 years learning over and over that it doesn't pay to get too happy, because happiness is always followed by events that will snatch it away. Her father was murdered during a violent thunderstorm when Jody was three years old, and her mother disappeared, her body never found. Everyone knows it was Billy Crosby, local drunk and wife-beater, who killed them, revenge for perceived slights from Jody's grandfather, the big money rancher in rural Henderson County, Kansas. And he's been sitting in prison for 23 years, convicted of Hugh-Jay Linder's murder. He never would tell where Laurie's body was buried and Jody obsesses that perhaps her mother is alive somewhere out there still.

And now, Billy Crosby has been released, his sentence commuted because there were some irregularities with the investigation--evidence not reported, brought up for review by Collin, Billy's son who has become a lawyer. Jody and her whole family--her grandparents, uncles--indeed, the whole town of Rose is in shock. When Jody actually begins talking to people, she realizes that some of the townspeople--including her current lover--have doubts about Billy's guilt in the murder and that everyone has protected her from these doubts ever surfacing over the years. Now her entire world seems to be unraveling, and Jody's just not sure where her life is headed.

I really, really loved this book--it was virtually unputdownable--until the last fifty pages or so. I can't say more without spoiling it, but the ending was so disappointing, cobbled together and...well, lame for lack of a better word, that it dragged my impression of the book down immensely.

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Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Read it in a day because I couldn't put it down. My only complaint is the ending is a bit abrupt. Her novel "The Virgin of Small Plains" is also a great read.

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Wow I cant believe the negative review. Not only was this book well written, it was a pleasure to read. The story unfolded at a great pace. I was surprised by the ending. I had expected something different.

I would rate this as one of the better books I have ever read.

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This book has garnered such terrific reviews that I was sure I'd love it. I didn't, but I can't really say why. The beginning drew me, in but by midway I'd lost interest in the story and the characters. I wasn't emotionally invested and the out of the blue ending did nothing to change my opinion. I'm not sure that I would pick up another book by this author.

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This satisfying novel is more character study than whodunit, though it has elements of both.

Twenty-three years before the book begins, Jody Linder lost both parents in a night of shocking violence â her father shot to death in the family home, her mother disappeared without a trace. As the novel opens, Jody receives the horrifying news that the man convicted of her father's murder has had his prison sentence commuted due to irregularities in the trial, and is returning to their home town. No one knows if he plans revenge on those who put him behind bars, or whether he simply means to resume his former life of drinking, beating on his wife, and terrorizing anyone who crosses him.

Pickard does a good job with virtually all the characters â the Linder family members, the townspeople who are still agitated over the trial, Jody herself, and the man to whom she is drawn despite a personal history that makes their relationship impossible. Even the returning prisoner manages to be more than a straw man. (He's still totally unpleasant, but his whining, bullying, everybody-picks-on-me attitude is, unfortunately, all too recognizable). The setting â a small Kansas town surrounded by cattle and wheat ranches â is always present and is itself another character, indelibly marking those who live there.

The observant reader will probably have come to some conclusions at about the halfway point of the book, but it's unlikely they will get all the details right. The conclusion, where secrets are revealed and lives are shattered, is probably the weakest part of the novel, as some of the characters' actions seem unlikely, or contradictory to earlier characterizations.

It's still a worthwhile read, and the characters will stay with the reader for a while.

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