I liked Bohjalian's novels The Night Strangers and The Sandcastle Girls. However I had some problems with this one. The basic premise is fine. Alice Hayward is brutally murdered by her abusive husband who is believed to have committed suicide afterward. When it turns out he was murdered by someone after having killed his wife, the suspicions turns on the Stephen, local church pastor, who had baptized the woman the day of her murder. Stephen has lost his faith and leaves the small New England town right after Alice's funeral which adds to the suspicions about him. Add to the mix a New Age author of books about angels whose parents died under similar circumstances who comes to town to provide comfort for the Hayward's teenage daughter and ends up involved with Stephen. Lots of secrets are eventually revealed along with the identity of the murderer. The main problem with this book is too many narrators. I'm not sure what the author's intent was but it is narrated, in part, by almost all the main characters. That was a bit much, especially since all but one add to the suspicions about Stephen. In addition, the fact that the friends and neighbors are allowed to scrub away all the blood & brains from the victims' house when the police are still present at the crime scene, is a laughable detail that any police officer would tell you would never happen. Personally, I thought Alice's best friend did it but I'm not saying if she was really the killer.
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