Traveling Sisters Review: The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti

The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Traveling sister review by Brenda with Lindsay

The Blackbird Season is a dark, slow-burning, eerie, haunting, suspenseful psychological thriller with some great elements to make it a haunting read. A dying town where people know everything and will turn on each other without a care, an abandoned mill haunted by the loss of jobs and hope, dead birds, and a missing girl. We both really enjoyed those haunting elements to the story and found them to be unique and suspenseful.

The Blackbird Season is a story of jealousy and obsession that explores the bonds of friendship, and marriage and the cruelty of teenagers. Kate Moretti does a great job bringing some layers and depth to this story of a missing girl where all eyes point to her teacher by adding a well-developed plot with his strained marriage to his wife and their son who has special needs. The dynamics and desperation of the dying town add to the depth of the story and allowed us to see how easy they can turn on each other.

Kate Moretti cleverly had us guessing with whose truth is the truth and whose perception is the truth leaving us guessing throughout the story. She paces this all very well and we both didn’t figure the twists out until the very end. I won’t say much about how we felt about the ending as it would give too much away however overall we were satisfied.

Thank you, NetGalley, Atria Books and Kate Moretti for a copy to read and review.

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Lindsay’s review

3.5 stars

This was an atmospheric psychological suspense thriller about a high school student who goes missing and the teacher who becomes the number one suspect. The author, Kate Moretti, did a fabulous job creating a vivid picture of the unthriving small town devastated by the mill closure years prior. The after effects lingering years later – on the people, on the buildings, on the overall attitude of the gossipy, close-knit community. The abandoned mill seemed to be a haunting character itself – hiding secrets and lies within its broken, run-down structure.

I enjoyed the way the story was revealed through four characters POV’s. The chapter changes of narration kept a refreshing feel throughout the novel. The slower paced storyline kept me intrigued for the most part, but my connection to the book wavered near the end.

What I enjoyed most about this story was getting a glimpse into the life of a mother’s love, struggles and commitment to her young autistic son. My heart broke for Alecia, Gabe’s mother, whose entire world revolved around monitoring, scheduling, organizing and tracking Gabe’s growth, development and progress through therapy, meetings, organized play, doctor appointments, etc. I could feel Alecia’s stress and overwhelming sense of exhaustion. She was a wonderfully dedicated mother and by far my favourite character.

I was satisfied with the ending, but wished for it to have happened a bit differently. Throughout the novel, there are some good twists and turns, but overall the book lacked a “wow” factor for me. I would recommend it if you are looking for a more relaxed and slower paced suspenseful mystery.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Kate Moretti for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!