Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

Do you have a Christmas book gift card you are itching to spend? Well, here is another bold, high tension, and original, suspenseful story by one of our favorite authors. Nobody can spin those twists like Charlie Donlea can.

Brenda’s thoughts

3 Things I loved

Charlie Donlea always has a few things going in his books to keep up with, and here it’s all about the many subplots bouncing around. It can be a bit much; however, he keeps all the balls in the air and somehow manages to bring them all together.

I love how he leaves a few clues to pick up on and figure some things out and then pulls the net out from under us with an exciting and surprising twist in the end.

I love that past characters make appearances in his books. It’s always nice to see what they are up to.

3 things I didn’t love as much

The story is not as tight as I would have liked and pacing is off. There is a bit of telling us things the characters do that weren’t all that interesting and felt repetitive

I feel like I shouldn’t have liked this one as much as I did because of using the tragedy of 9/11 as a plot device to drive the story forward. I read another book using 9/11, and I was not too fond of it because of that.

I didn’t find the character engaging as much as I liked due to the many subplots. Not as much time was spent on developing them to really engage in them. However, it’s all about the suspense and unexpected twist in the end that makes this an exciting one.

3 reasons you should read

If you love to follow clues and try to figure things out along the way to be surprised with how it turns out in the end. Or maybe to see if you did figure it out.

You like bold stories that might be questionable by their use of them. Here 9/11.

You are a fan of Charlie Donlea. If you haven’t read anything written by him, I highly recommend giving it a try!!

Lindsay’s thoughts

Gripping. Twisty. Edgy.

Avery Mason is a famous tv host who is investigating the story behind a victim of 9/11 identified by a bone fragment found twenty years later. Breakthrough technology allowed scientists to determine the DNA within a tiny piece of bone sifted out of the large pile of rubble left after the twin tower attacks. Twenty years later, there remains a team that is still trying to find answers and give closure to the many families who never heard from their loved ones after that devastating day. Avery’s investigation brings forth far more detail and answers than she ever anticipated.

It’s brave for an author to take on 9/11 as a subplot. It’s a tragedy that many of us still cannot process and will never fully understand. I felt the author did an excellent job weaving this devastating part of history into the story.

I enjoyed the tv show angle. It kept the plot fresh and relevant. I really liked the main characters and how their own unique back stories brought suspense and tension to the storyline.

The ending was shocking and highly entertaining! Loved it! Readers will definitely have a “love” or “hate” feeling for the conclusion. For me, I felt it was clever, twisty and absolutely perfect!

We received copies from the publisher