Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes

I gave Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes 4 out of 5 pages. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The reader is introduced to FBI agent Lucy Thorne, after a young girl- Eliza, comes into the office and asks for Lucy by name. Lucy is not prepared for Eliza to admit she killed a boy and nothing more. No motive provided, no remorse shown. But as Lucy, soon uncovers, there is more to this story and she is determined to find out what could cause a young girl like Eliza to kill a boy and how does this all tie into a quaint community, full of religion, a small town Sheriff, missing children and Lucy herself. People are keeping secrets and it is up to Lucy to figure out fact from fiction and why children are going missing. 

I really enjoyed reading this. I felt, in the beginning, a little confused because the story alternated from Eliza confessing to Lucy and then to Eliza and her friends. There were holes in the beginning that I wanted desperately to have filled but, as the story progresses, the reader comes to find those discrepancies will all be addressed. 

I thought the book was well written and was full of deception and misdirection. I appreciated the misdirection as I am typically the type of person that wants to figure things out in a book. I thought I had the sure answers and realized I was way off. This book had me on the edge of my seat, wanting to read further- to the point I stayed up until 3am just to finish it. 

The characters were developed but not as fully as I would've hoped. However, I liked the characters and how the author really gave them distinct personalities- even the antagonist in the novel was someone you wanted to understand yet hate all at the same time. I loved the religion aspect interwoven within Eliza's story and her reasoning for her actions. It was very different from where I thought it was all going and different in general from most books I have read. It was rather sad to when you realize what was happening to the missing children and why they had gone missing. It wasn't a completely absurd idea which made it all the more heart wrenching and horrific. 

I would highly recommend this book for the plot, characters and mystery it holds.