Anna, Anna, Anna...she finally has come home to her mother, but what should have been a joyous occasion after seventeen years turns into a nightmare.

Anna and Maggie were apart for seventeen years. Maggie’s husband falsely accused her of abusing their infant daughter and took her away. Anna connected with her mother after her father was killed in a plane crash.

Maggie had remarried and lived with her loving husband, Dr. Noah Alderman. Everyone accepted Anna into the family even though Anna balked at their rules.

AFTER ANNA takes us back and forth in time as we follow the trial that has Dr. Alderman fighting for his freedom, and we are taken back to the days BEFORE Anna's return and DURING Anna’s return home to her mother after seventeen years.

Anna had her mother believing everything she told her whether it was true or not, and Maggie was not believing anything her husband said about Anna.

I didn’t like Anna the moment I met her. Something just told me she was manipulative, cunning, and evil.

Ms. Scottoline has written another fantastic thriller filled with tension that will keep you on the edge of your seat along with characters that you will not like and some that you will want to tell to wake up and see what really is going on.

Everything was PERFECT until Anna arrived.

Do NOT miss reading this book. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Have you ever made a mistake in your life and desperately wished for a do-over? For 17 years Maggie Alderman has lived with regret over losing custody of her infant daughter Anna. But Anna’s father has died in a plane crash leaving her in a boarding school, and Anna now wants to come to live with Maggie, her husband Dr. Noah Alderman, and stepson Caleb.

The days of what was once a loving happy family are over…after Anna came to live with them.

Noah Alderman, a doctor and a widower, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie, and for the first time in a long time he and his son are happy. But their lives are turned upside down when Maggie’s daughter Anna moves in with them. Anna is a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble that is brewing. Events take a deadly turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of the crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her only daughter, but the realization that her daughter's murder was at the hands of a husband she loves. New information sends Maggie searching for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

I usually like this author's books -- have read numerous ones. This was just ok for me. The storyline does grab you and you have to read to the end to see what happens. I did not like Maggie as a character - I felt her actions and how she handles Anna a bit unrealistic.

SPOILER ALERT:
I felt the ending was rushed and also a lot of unrealistic actions --- how fast Noah was rescued in prison ; the fact that all is forgiven when he gets out of jail and they are one happy family again; Maggie accompanying the police to rescue the girls and then running into the house when she sees Anna. not realistic to me.

The last several chapters of AFTER ANNA are so good they're unputdownable. For many book reviewers, that's enough for a five-star rating. But the first half of the book, for me, was frustrating to the point it was sometimes difficult to read. Unless I like a book from beginning to end, it doesn't get five stars.



AFTER ANNA is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Noah and Maggie, a happily married couple, at least â??before Anna.â?



Anna is Maggie's daughter. Maggie hasnâ??t seen Anna since she was a baby, when Maggieâ??s first husband had her declared unfit and moved with Anna to France. Now Annaâ??s father has died, and she is back in Maggieâ??s life. For Maggie, this is wonderful. But for Noah, who was originally happy to have Anna join their family, Anna is not who she seems to Maggie.



Noahâ??s chapters are â??after Anna,â? that is, after Annaâ??s murder. Heâ??s on trial. Maggieâ??s chapters are before Annaâ??s murder. In both cases, the truth of the matter is obvious and, therefore, the first half of the book is frustrating.



But when Maggie travels to Maine with her friend Kathy and her stepson Caleb (yes, Noah's 10-year-old son), the story is no longer predictable and becomes one of Lisaâ??s Scottolineâ??s finest. My only criticism is when Maggie talks like a junior high school girl and introduces Kathy more than once as her "best friend.â?