I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner
Published by Crown Publishing
Publication Date October 8, 2013
Source: Netgalley
Genres: General Fiction
Goodreads
Twenty years ago, college student Dani Lancing was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The killer was never found, and the case has long gone cold. Her parents, Patty and Jim, were utterly devastated, their marriage destroyed. While Jim fell apart, Patty was consumed by the unsolved case. She abandoned her journalism career and her marriage to spend every waking hour searching and plotting. She keeps contact with Tom, Dani's childhood sweetheart, who has become a detective intent on solving murders like Dani's. When he finds a lead that seems ironclad, he brings Patty in on it. After years of dead ends, her obsession is rekindled, and she will do anything for revenge, even become a killer herself-dragging her whole family into the nightmare once again, as lies and secrets are uncovered.
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing is tragic, the premise unimaginable, yet it was engrossing. P.D.Viner created characters that made you feel. Grief. I felt her parent’s grief, it hung in the air like a cloud before a rain storm. You’d think with the subject matter, a girl murdered with her parents left to pick up twenty years of pieces that I would be crying my eyes out; but the puzzle of Dani Lancing is laid out in such a seductive manner that your eyes would only run for lack of blinking.
While there are many “I didn’t see that coming” moments I did have a sneaking suspicion of who the culprit was (supposedly confirmed halfway through the book). That did not detour the intensity of The Last Winter of Dani Lancing, as it was very well written and plotted out. I may have worked it out in my mind but Viner gave me the “how” one of the most important elements in the 5Ws and H. I sound very evasive but I fear of giving key points away if I type too much.
Like Dani’s mother Patty I made a mad dash to learn her fate. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the well paced hype. The explanation just seemed to come out of nowhere. I was also disappointed by Tom’s partaking, it is mentioned that he owes someone of high power a favor but I felt the author failed to elaborate and just kind of dropped the subject matter. Overall, The Last Winter of Dani Lancing was a good, solid novel, I just don’t think the conclusion matched the build up the novel presented.
This is exactly how I ended up feeling. I was loving the alternating time line and the pacing of the story, how it kept me guessing and on my toes., and then…womp. What a lifeless conclusion. And the epilogue only made things worse!
I forgot about the epilogue — I guess it was memorable. Overall I thought it was a good read, but the ending was a bit of a hiccup. Glad I'm not alone.