A whodunnit thriller which makes you question everyone, set in a small town, Innocent by Erin Kinsley might be for you.

The plot:

Everyone says they are innocent… but who is telling the truth?

The pretty market town of Sterndale is a close-knit community where everyone knows one another. But during a lavish summer wedding, a local celebrity is discovered slumped in the gardens, the victim of a violent assault that leads to a murder investigation.

As the police search for answers, suspicion and paranoia spreads – and lives are turned upside down. But the secrets lurking beneath the pristine façade of Sterndale will come to light as detectives hunt for the truth…

There are some exciting, unpredictable elements throughout

I have very mixed thoughts about Innocent.

The biggest frustration for me was that the synopsis, provided above, mentions the assault leads to a murder investigation – it didn’t turn into a murder investigation until 272 pages in. In my opinion, knowing this tainted the story for me – I know for many others that they’ll enjoy the ride, but every blip or doctor’s meeting or hospital visit, I was just waiting for it to happen because you’d already been told about it on the back of the book.

Although it is a relatively slow burner until it hits the 280-page mark, there are some exciting, unpredictable elements throughout, one which was incredibly done well and tied in perfectly.

The story didn’t go the way I thought it was going to go, as the author manipulates you by providing mini-stories and suspicious characters for you to think anyone and everyone did it. In hindsight, there were definitely hints, but as you’re so wrapped up in the lives of this small town, it makes sense to overlook them at the time.

I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s one huge plot twist, instead smaller but key ones.

The story-changing plot twist did infuriate me a little because of the topic, and it says a lot about the character in question.

At the beginning of the book, there’s lots of description which helps you set the scene early, so much so that I could imagine the little town of Sterndale – and the way the characters behaved only added more to this – there’s then a lot more conversation and chapters are short as you get into the story (you don’t follow one particular character but follow different character’s stories).

You get the police-procedural side, as well as minor people who all seem to play a part. I particularly liked how Laura and Izzy, two of the main characters, have been created, as they felt very realistic.

I’d say this is a low 4-star read for me; the long delay to get to the murder investigation dropped the rating significantly, and I think if this wasn’t included in the synopses, it’d be a shocking development and make certain parts of the ending more meaningful, but I enjoyed the added element of the ‘local celebrity’, and it really heightened the investigation and people’s perspectives. The more you think about the title, the more it relates to the plot, which I love.