Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First, I want to say that there were some things that did not really bother me about this book. I am a lawyer, but nitpicks having to do with legal procedure, etc, are not the reason I am giving this book a bad review. I also do not really care how long someone sits shiva or whatever. My problem with this book was that the characters were horribly underdeveloped, and a story like this must have strong characters in order to succeed. The basic plot of this book is that an assistant D.A's 14 year-old son has been accused of murdering a classmate. That's it. No really, that is basically the entire plot. There are some things regarding the narrator's father, and a family history of violence, but the plot does not expand very much beyond that one line. It is so simple it could be a one hour Law and Order episode. Now I want to make something clear: I do not think a story has to have a complicated plot in order to be interesting. ANY story can be interesting. It is all in how the author chooses to tell it. But when a plot is really simple, then it is really important that you have characters you care about. The characters in this book are REALLY underdeveloped. The wife, Laurie, does not even seem like a real person, and neither does the son, Jacob. I will not give away any spoilers, but understanding WHO Laurie is, is really important. The narrator has been with this woman since she was 17, yet somehow they interact like they are virtual strangers, and I do not think that was INTENTIONAL on the author's part. About halfway through the book it occurred to me that I did not care about any of the characters at all. In fact the one character who was sort of interesting, was sitting in prison the entire book. There were also characters and scenes in the novel that were just sort of "there" and seemed to have almost nothing to do with the story. I want to mention something else this book lacks that made it poor. I am talking about MOOD. A crime book, especially a murder mystery, really should have a certain mood to it. This story takes place in a town outside of Boston. Hey, guess what, I have never been to Boston or any towns near Boston. That means the author needs to take me there. What do these people eat? What kind of houses do they live in? Are they all wine drinkers, or are they beer drinkers? What does it mean to live there? A novel's setting is important. It is sort of one more character; when you understand it, you can understand the people in the story a little better. For example, Tana French does an excellent job of taking you to Dublin in all her novels. Why? Well, the fact that the story takes place in Ireland actually MATTERS in her stories, as well it should. In summary, a total lack of caring about the characters in this novel made it very dull. To me, a great book leaves you will a certain sense of sadness when you finish it. You are sad because you do not want to part with the people in the story. This book never made me feel like any of the characters were actual people at all.