Author: Mari Howes
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: November 3, 2026
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I went into this debut expecting a gripping legal thriller, and I came away with something much darker and heavier. When a panicked woman phones 9-1-1 from a gas station payphone in rural Vermont to report a dead newborn, police charge Heather Garner, a college drop-out and member of the fringe religious community The Messiah's Tribes, with murdering her son. Her family hasn't heard from her in almost twenty years. Lawyer Abby Harris, pregnant with her first child, takes the case over the puzzlement of her friends and colleagues, convinced there's more to the story. As she digs, she begins to suspect the Tribes are less a harmless band of eccentric hippies than a well-organized, exploitative criminal enterprise.
The book alternates between Abby's legal defense investigation and chapters that reveal Heather's past inside the community. It's a sound structure, but the balance is off. The cult chapters take up most of the space, and I found them slow, depressing, and disturbing, and hard to get through. The book opens strongly, but the momentum bogs down quickly. If I hadn't planned to review it, I would have DNF'd before the 20% mark.
Where Howes deserves credit is characterization. Heather in particular is drawn with real depth, and you can feel how thoroughly she has been shaped by her indoctrination. That realism worked against my enjoyment, though. Heather is so deeply brainwashed and so unwilling to step out of the cult that I struggled to root for her, and without a character to cheer for, the slow stretches felt even longer. The ending didn't help. It doesn't land anywhere satisfying, and too many threads are left loose. If you're hoping for a feel-good resolution or a tidy legal payoff, this isn't it.
Overall, this is a well-observed but bleak read that didn't deliver the legal thriller I was hoping for, and I don't recommend it.
A big thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #Dutton
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