Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel, received in exchange for an honest review.
Noah Alderman is a widower and single father who has recently married Maggie, a receptionist from his office. When Maggie’s long-estranged teenage daughter shows up out of the blue and attempts to rekindle a parental relationship with Maggie, Maggie is over the moon. Soon, Anna moves in with Maggie and her family and they begin to form some semblance of a normal life. However, Noah begins to notice strange things about Anna’s behaviours that send those red warning flags flying, but naive Maggie doesn’t see anything strange about her beloved daughter. When a tragedy happens and Noah is blamed, Maggie immediately chooses sides however she soon begins to question if she made the right choice and if Anna is really the person she was pretending to be.
“After Anna” is the newest, soon-to-be-released novel by Lisa Scottoline. Scottoline’s intense, legal dramas are always packed with suspense, intrigue and powerhouse plots and this novel is no exception.
The characters are well-defined and easy to form relationships with (especially young Caleb who is simply adorable) and I was choosing sides right from the beginning, trying to collect evidence against one party or another (I can be honest, my view changed as I read on) . Anna is immediately depicted as untrustworthy and suspicious, which serves to cast doubt on her character from page one (with good reason? Who am I to provide *spoiler alerts!*)
As is custom for Scottoline, a large part of the novel takes place in the courtroom, with lawyers engaged in legal battles. However, as always, she does not inundate a reader with legal jargon, or overwhelm them with the “boring bits” of a trial. Only the important aspects are shared with a reader, and it was easy to follow this portion of the plot. I have compared Scottoline to John Grisham in the past and I will do so again, which is, in my opinion, a heartfelt compliment.
The novel is told from both Noah and Maggie’s point of view, which I found helped to create suspense, and cement the images of the characters in reader’s minds.
Perhaps the most shocking part of this novel was that it was unpredictable. I legitimately did not expect the twist that happened, nor did I anticipate the ending. “After Anna” is a novel that will take you by surprise and also has the multi-faceted talent of tugging at your heartstrings at the same time.
“After Anna” is a heartbreaking tale of parenthood, manipulation and murder (so essentially, it has everything) . I always recommend Ms. Scottoline’s books, and with good reason, and this novel is going to be praised for all that it’s worth. I look forward to more of Scottoline’s gripping legal tales.
Side note: Ms. Scottoline- the prisoner that wants to retaliate against Noah?? His name is “John Drover”, which also happens to be the exact name of my late grandfather. Not a very usual name and it got to me. I can tell you. I’d love to know how that name came to you!

In a word this book was disappointing, on many levels. I am a fan of Ms. Scottoline’s having enjoyed “One Perfect Lie” and “Every Fifteen Minutes” is still one of my all time favorite thrillers.

As you all know from the blurb “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”

First off, a huge chunk of this novel takes place in the courtroom and if you are not a fan of the lawyer/inquisition style, as I am not, you probably won’t enjoy this very much. I found myself reading very quickly just to get to the meat of the story. Perhaps she was combining the courtroom drama from her Rosato and Associates books into this novel?

Secondly, the characters, in my opinion, were not believable, with the exception of Noah’s little son, Caleb, who I think was portrayed realistically. Noah was made to look too perfect of a father and husband. After he remarries Maggie and finds a great home life I could believe that their marriage was probably on a happy track, but no one I know is that perfect of a person as Noah is shown to be. The perfect dad, husband, doctor, etc.

Maggie is a 40 something woman who had a very sad first marriage to a very imperfect, almost detestable man. After having lost so much she is thrilled with Noah as a husband. Much reference is made to the fact that she had a weight problem as a child and as a young woman but that facet of her life was never developed. Perhaps if her character had been better defined I would have found her more believable.

When she gets a call from a daughter whom she has not seen since infancy she rushes to meet her. Within 24 hours she has invited her to live with them, shopped and decorated her room and turned their family life upside down. No alarms went off for her that this young woman just showed up after her father was killed? She has no doubts that this is really her long estranged daughter? She refuses to listen to anything negative said about Anna from the husband who she admittedly adored.

My Kindle hit 77% location in book when things finally started getting interesting. There isn’t a whole lot that I can say without adding spoilers but again, the story that was told was just too far out of what I felt was believable. I would like to think that no one was ever convicted of murder on such circumstantial evidence. There was no absolute proof shown as to Noah’s guilt. The ending just comes out of nowhere and while it addresses a serious issue, it was too little too late for me.

I’m giving it a 2.5 rounded up to a 3 but that unfortunately won’t show up in the ratings. I will still look forward to the next book by this author in the hopes that the next one will be a winner for me.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley, thank you.

Will also post to Amazon upon publication

I have always enjoyed the books Lisa Scottoline has written. This one is hard to set down because the mystery regarding Anna’s death keeps the reader wondering. Well written and I enjoyed the style of back and forth of now only characters but time as well. Good book that brings up an important subject.

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline - I have enjoyed most of this authors books in the past. Her writing style is very smooth and enjoyable.  I did not enjoy this book so much.  I did finish it and only skipped some towards the end because I didn't feel it was relevant to the story.  I had questions about the way the Mother accepted everything about Anna even though she had no contact with her in 16 plus years so knew absolutely nothing about her. The stepfather had questions right after meeting the daughter, but was dismissed.  At the very least the Mother should have been more in control and in sync with her husband.  I also felt the scenes were contrived especially the one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The father would never have left his son alone at the candy counter in a huge store. I did get a little confused with the backward review of the trial and by the time day 1 came around I had skipped sections.  I liked the last part where the Mother and her friend go back to Congreve and try to figure out the truth. The Mother appears to gain strength and become more knowledgeable when with her friend Kathy. Thanks Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC of Before Anna.
Told from different views this psychological thriller will keep you guessing throughout the whole story.
With a lot of twists it kept me on the edge of my seat and even had a shocking twist at the end!

Twists, turns, and an unexpected ending. Lisa Scottoline has given us another great read.

This was a very engrossing and entertaining story. I was trying to "guess" what Anna's motivation was and I have to say that the twist completely took me by surprise.

I usually like books by Lisa Scottoline. Unfortunately, this book was disappointing. The story is told in two time frames - one going forward from before the crime and the other going backward from the trial. I found this unnecessarily confusing. It dragged on and on and I finally gave up without finishing it.

(Thank you Netgalley for an early reader copy)

Maggie Ippolitti has a perfect life: the perfect husband, the perfect stepson, a wonderful life, except for one thing. When Maggie was young and previously married, she gave up her infant daughter Anna to her ex-husband because she had postpartum psychosis. She hasn't seen Anna in 16 years, when out of the blue she hears that her ex has died in a plane crash, and Anna wants to reconnect. Maggie happily brings Anna back into her heart and her home, but things quickly take a nasty turn. Anna accuses Noah, Maggie's husband of inappropriate behavior towards her and lodges a formal complaint. Maggie doesn't know who to believe, but she's already lost 16 years with Anna, and she doesn't want to lose any more. Instead, Noah has to leave. But Anna displays some disconcerting behaviors of her own; just who is this girl?

When Anna is found dead, Noah is accused of murdering her. Now Maggie has lost both her daughter and her husband, but when she tries to learn more about Anna and her friends, what she learns is devastating. Who is Anna really? If Noah didn't kill her, who else would want to?

After Anna is a definite page turner, and hard to put down. As we learn about events through Noah's trial, it becomes clear that things and people are not what they seem. The story is suspenseful, the characters are interesting, and it's a great read. The only thing that bothered me about the story was what happens in the end...it seems like there is a rush to tie things up. However the book is definitely worth reading, and the perfect book to take on vacation, because you won't want to put it down for silly things like sleep!

page Turner. Well plotted. Great storyline. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery/Scout Press for providing me an early release of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Lisa, I wish I liked this more. I really do. I usually like most of what you write. But this...ugh. The characters drove me nuts. I figured out the ending way before the end of the book. I just couldn't get into the meat of the story, I guess. Too predictable.

After Anna is another great novel by Lisa Scottoline . Courtroom drama, muder, family drama and a surprise twist that you won't see coming this book is why Scottoline is one of my favorite authors

Noah and Maggie, both had previous marriages but found each other and were happy. Noah had a son who thought of Maggie as his mother. Maggie had a daughter who she hadn’t seen since she was 6 months old when her husband declared her unfit.
One day out of the blue Maggie’s daughter calls her and asks to meet her for dinner. Maggie finds out her daughter is so unhappy, wants to drop out of school and move in with her. Which she does.
And this is when trouble starts.
Anna accuses Noah of horrible things and then is found murdered. Noah is arrested and crazy things come out. Did Maggie know the man she married or didn’t she???.

AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline. The story was quite engrossing and kept up the pace until the last couple of chapters when it felt a bit rushed. But nothing prepared one for the twist at the end. It was a really good read in a different style than I am normal used to reading, but it worked well.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I was engaged in the book at the start, however soon my interest started to fade with the back-and-forth storytelling, which normally I quite enjoy. That being said, this book really picked up steam in the last 25%. I only wish the epilogue had been a little longer with more details and continuation. Thank you for the advance read.

I am a huge Lisa Scottoline fan..... this book did NOT disappoint. I was hooked from the first page.....I wasn’t sure at first about the format going back and forth between Maggie’s story and the court case but of course Lisa scottoline wrote it in a way that it completely made sense. I won’t say to much as to not give anything away but I did NOT see that twist coming at all,,,,,,

Maggie reunites with her daughter Anna 17 years after she lost custody due to postpartum psychosis. Maggie’s happiness knew no bounds especially when after a few days Anna moves in with Maggie , her husband Noah and his son Caleb.The story opens with Noah on trial for Anna’s murder and is told from his perspective intertwined with Maggie’s perspective beginning from when Anna gets in touch with her.

An easy fast read with some twists and turns kept me engaged . Not Lisa Scottoline’s usual writing style and seems to drag for a little with some repetitive scenes but entertaining enough with a rating of 3 ½ stars.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

I really enjoyed this book - I actually read it in 2 nights. The characters were fully developed and you were able to understand their reasons for making some of their choices. I did not expect the ending which is a good thing because it keeps you guessing. I would definitely reckoned this book. One of Scottlone’s best.

Grabbed me from the first page and never let go. A unique approach that tells the story in two parallel perspectives one starting from the present and working backwards and one starting in the past and working forward. So many twists and turns that keep you guessing right to the end. A real page-turner!