Blacked-Eyed Susans is a phenomenal, fast-paced psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down, not even once. As soon as I started it I knew I was in trouble and quickly bribed my daughter’s boyfriend to go pick up pizza for dinner, I knew I’d be pulling an all-nighter :) And the mystery behind the killer? Well of course I’m not going to give that away or give any clues for that matter but I will say that I had a theory at about the 30% mark. Then as the story moved towards the 75% mark I saw another potential theory start to unfold but I was still pretty certain that I’d already figured it out, that my original theory was right. Now, I’m not going to share with you whether or not I got it right because it’s seriously best to go into this one with as little info as possible and to form your own theory. I will tell you though that I was just blown away by this book and I can’t wait to read one of Heaberlin’s previous books. I’d also love to know if Heaberlin has teenage daughters of her own because each one; young Tessa, young Lydia and Charlie, Tessa’s daughter, were written beautifully and totally spot on!

This is absolutely a book I’d recommend to anyone who loves an original, fast-paced psychological thriller. This would also make a great Book Club choice if your members are into reading thrillers! And just like the book advertises; if you love authors like Gillian Flynn, Laura Lippman and I’m going to include a personal fav, Lisa Unger then you’ll love Black-Eyed Susans, just be prepared to get absolutely nothing done around your house for at least 24 hours!

Most members liked it for the suspense and drama. A few thought it lagged in places and that the ending sewed everything up too quickly as if the author felt rushed to finish. At least one member hated this book because she thought several key plot points were implausible. All the other 14 or so who were present liked it to varying degrees.

I liked this book. It is addictive, suspenseful but not really scary. There are times that the jumps between present day and the past are jarring. It's important to note the dates and the beginning of the chapters. I read this book in several days and found myself several times wanting to go back and reread previous chapters if there were multiple days in between readings. This book is very well researched and the forensics used to identify the bones is explained well. The climax (the ID of the killer) is a bit unexpected, and there were a few loose ends that never were answered to my satisfaction, but overall, I enjoyed the book.