Susan Lentigo's daughter was murdered twenty years ago--and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer's execution.
On her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent…

This was a bit of a slow burner for me and took a while for me to get fully invested into the story. Some parts seemed a little unbelievable but when you move past that, there’s actually a good storyline and I was desperate to see what happened in the end!

One of the aspects I found tricky to begin with was connecting with the characters; I didn’t find them particularly likeable and I was lacking in sympathy for them, despite what had happened. But my views on this changed as the book went on and I found myself rooting for Susan and her determination to find out what really happened to her daughter and save a man from death row! She began quite a strong, female lead and wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hold her back.

The whole death row aspect to the book was new to me and it was morbidly fascinating reading how things happen. It doesn’t make for the most comfortable of reading but it did reinforce exactly why Susan was so desperate to find out the truth.

Overall this was a book that eventually caught my attention, with an ending that had me gripped!

An enjoyable read following a woman who's waited twenty years for the execution of the guy who murdered her daughter, only to find evidence on the way to his execution that he may in fact be innocent. The guilt is between two characters, but it's a fast-paced fight to find out the truth before the execution goes ahead.

The plot idea is brilliant. It's definitely a "trust your gut" read. My heart was pounding as I raced through the ending, internally screaming, "Noooooooo!"

I was really digging Kyra and would have loved more from her in the story.

When I finished this book, I was left with a major question: What was the reason for her daughter's murder? I get the paedophilia aspect, but I still wanted more than just "he's a paedophile". I feel like the ending needs a little more closure and resolution for me personally.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Legend Press for this DRC.)

My first book from Matt Witten and it went down a treat!
It was what I could call an edge of the seat thriller, with the perfect amount of mystery and twists!
I read the book in two days, the first day I just dabbled in it, but on the second day, I read the majority of it, and yes, that included staying up until 2 AM on a weekday because I could not put it down!
The characters were well crafted and well rounded. I really felt for the main character, her pain, her bad luck, yet her motivation to keep going throughout all of this; and to an execution thousand and a half miles away of all things! I kept guessing the involvement of the man, and the clues were dotted around so satisfyingly, just enough to keep me guessing and questioning myself, but the reveal was delicious and I was happy my guess was validated! But for a twist, this was not completely obvious, which I felt was well crafted.
I would give this book 4.25 stars.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book and would not hesitate to pick up another one from this author, who is new to me.
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This certainly grabbed my attention from the beginning with a good characters and writing style. Quite fast paced it kept my attention right to the end. A good read!

The Necklace by Matt Witten is an interesting tale of a woman from a small town whose 7 year old daughter was murdered and her struggles to cope during the 20 years until the accused, tried and sentenced murderer is to be put to death. The townspeople fund her travels to another state to witness the execution and finally have closure.

However, everything that can go awry does and by the time she arrives at the prison, she is unsure if the man to be executed for her daughter’s murder is, in fact, guilty. The book is well written and immediately gets the reader to empathize with her and feel her angst.

I thank NetGalley and Legend Press for the opportunity to read and review an advance reader copy of a novel by an author whose next book I will anxiously await.

It was a very difficult book to read. It was also hard to read what was going through the characters minds all through the book. It was well written but the ending was a little predictable. Still enjoyed the way the book was written. Will definitely continue reading other book from this author.

I can’t give any reason why I shouldn’t give this book five stars so five stars it gets. It’s not the best book ever or any kind of life changing saga but a very well paced interesting book that kept me interested from page one till the end.

Whoa! This is one of those books that makes your heart rate speed up as the pages fly! I thoroughly enjoyed this one. His attention to detail & descriptive writing really help to pull you into the story. If you’ve found yourself in a reading slump, Matt Witten just may pull you out of it with “The Necklace”.

Susan Lentigo’s daughter was murdered twenty years ago – now, at long last, she will witness the killer’s execution. The story grips you from the start and keeps you hanging on till the end.
This is a rapid-paced, compelling story with masterful execution.

THE NECKLACE - MATT WITTEN

⭐⭐⭐/5

Thank you to @netgalley, Legend Press & Matt Witten for this ARC of the The Necklace which was published 1st march.

I found this book fast paced and a very quick read as I needed to find out who killed the daughter. It was extremely heartbreaking at some points, especially if you have a trigger to child abuse/murder/SA.

Some parts were not very realistic but I enjoyed the quick ride the writer took us on to solve this murder!

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This has hundreds of great ratings and reviews, so I can't add anything new. So I'll just recommended to mystery/thriller fans. It's a good one.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

The Necklace gives a fantastic perspective of realities of the criminal justice system and all of the complex thoughts and feelings behind capital punishment. By the end I felt the author was forcing me to reconsider my own viewpoint, something that does not easily happen with such a politically charged issue.

The only downsides is that I did few the book ending a little predictable and would have enjoyed the plot twist coming later in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Necklace.

Susan lost her daughter 20 years ago. She was brutally raped and murdered. The man who was found guilty is on death row and Susan needs money to get to the execution. As she embarks on the long journey to North Dakota, an idea forms. What if the guilty guy actually isn’t guilty? And if he didn’t do it, who did?

A solid 4 stars for this book. I really enjoyed the story, and was never sure which twist or turn would be the last, or how it would end. Would definitely read more from this author.

Read this if…you like stories about mothers searching for justice.

Susan Lentigo has waited 20 long years for the murderer of her young daughter to be put to death. She needs closure and sets off on a cross-country trip to attend the monster’s execution in person. Along the way, she uncovers new information about the necklace her daughter had been wearing at the time of her death. The necklace was never recovered, but if Susan’s revelations are accurate, she has a very short amount of time to stop the execution of an innocent man and still get justice for her beloved daughter.

I was very happy with this book and spent a little bit trying to decide whether it was a 4 or 5 star read for me. There were a lot of great things about this book. The plot was so heartbreaking. I felt so much sadness for Susan and the life she lost when her daughter was murdered. (There were some graphic descriptions of the little girl’s final moments, so make sure you’ve looked up the trigger warnings.) The pacing of the book was just right and I could not put it down. The writing and dialogue were solid and the characters felt authentic.

My final decision to put this at 4 stars has to do with the ending, but I’ll be careful not to spoil anything. I felt like it was a stretch that Susan buried so much information and it all came back to her at such a critical moment. I guess this makes her an unreliable narrator in a way, but I wasn’t buying it. I also felt like I needed a little bit more information at the end. I was left wondering about a lot of things regarding the murderer after the story finally ended. Even just one more chapter could have helped me with this.

Overall, this was a great suspense-filled mystery that I devoured. I will absolutely be watching out for this author in the future!

A big thanks to Netgalley, the author, and Legend Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

American television writer, Matt Witten has four previously published books and now a standalone thriller titled The Necklace. Twenty years after her daughter’s murder, Susan Lentigo is a struggling waitress in a small town. She decides to take a road trip, from her home in Upstate New York, all the way to North Dakota, to witness the execution of her daughter’s self-confessed killer. With little money and not much time, she finds new evidence and questions whether he is in fact innocent? The narrative moves between events twenty years ago and present day, as Susan ponders if the real killer is out there. A road trip crime story with likeable characters, satisfactory tension and a three-and-a-half-star read rating. With thanks to Legend Press Oceanview Publishing and the author for an uncorrected proof copy for review purposes.

Really enjoyed this book. Entertaining throughout each chapter. Felt like I wanted to yell at the main character each chapter for her poor choices but it was necessary to make it exciting!
I feel like I would’ve read it all in 2 days if I had a hardcover. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital version. But did not enjoy using NetGalley app to read.

A new author for me and what a cracking read. 20 years ago her 7 year old daughter was murdered. Now Susan is making the trek across country to see the killer finally executed. But is he the killer? This is an emotional read which I found very hard to put down. The strong female lead is going to do everything to get justice for her daughter and time is running out. A good thriller loosely based on a true story.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

When I first read the plot I was very intrigued. the plot thread is what sustained me in reading this book. Overall I felt that the writing was a bit stilted and rudimentary. The main protagonist was a woman that I surmised was about my age so I felt that I could relate to her. However, I don't think the writer had a good grasp on what it is like to be a middle age woman. There were a few things that i found a bit off putting about the main protagonist that didn't jive, for example - she didn't know what bodywash was??? I bring this up because I know it was just a small blurb in the book as a whole, but it stood out enough to me to mention it here. I had another issue with the end of the book, which I won't go into as to not give away any spoilers, but I don't think that is how certain things work and seemed a bit off-putting to me. The writing seems a bit unpolished, which in learning further about the author, this is his first book. Overall I give the overall plot of the book a 4 but the writing around the plot a 2.5 - the plot and wanting to find out how it all ends is what pulled me through the book.

Told in two timelines, 20 years ago when Susan's young daughter Amy was murdered and the present when Susan is traveling cross country to watch the killer's execution. On her way there, she discovers something that makes her believe the man about to be executed is innocent. This one was a little hard to believe really. I disliked the whole ending. [Spoilers] The rush to stop the execution at the last second, ugh. I don't know much about it, but I'm fairly certain it does not work that way. The husband/father being the killer with ZERO explanation other than I guess he's just a pedophile creep. Why kill his own daughter though? What suddenly changed that pushed him that far? Unexplained. And Susan ending up romantically with the FBI agent was just unnecessary. 2.5 stars rounded to 2.

I started off not really liking this. I wasn't really impressed with the writing, and a lot of it felt really unrealistic (Amy's friends "weeping" over her death 20 years later...come on, they were 7 when it happened.) I also really didn't like Susan. I've seen a lot of reviews talk about her strength, which is true I guess, but I was really turned off by her immediate wish to (or actually) use violence. As an example, in one scene a woman is rude to her, and she "had an urge to slap this woman's face." This reaction happens a lot, and for me it took away from her.
*
But the ending really was exciting, and I liked how it all came together. I'm not sure if that was particularly realistic either, but there was enough rationale behind it to make it plausible, and I really enjoyed it. I also loved Kyra, a teenager Susan meets along the way. She was so fun, and I wish there was more of her.
*
I hovered around 2 stars for the first half, but the ending bumped it up for me!