Never Look Back by A.L. Gaylin @alisongaylin #Thriller #Suspense

Author: A.L. Gaylin

Performed by Jorjeana Marie, James Fouhey

Released: July 2019 on Audible

Category: Thriller, Suspense, Audiobook, Review

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She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother…

When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it’s a business matter. It’s not. Quentin’s podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin’s own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.

Quentin Garrison, the young co-host of Closure, a true crime podcast, had personal reasons for researching the murder spree in the latter half of the 1970s, carried out by the notorious teenage duo, April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy who were known as the Inland Empire Killers.

Their Bonnie and Clyde type lifestyle came to an abrupt end when they were believed to have perished in a fire. Quentin’s childhood was affected, and not in good way, by LeRoy and Cooper. After receiving a shocking tip off he contacted columnist Robin Diamond, wanting to speak to her mother regarding April Cooper.

Never Look Back begins in 1976 with April Cooper who had just turned fifteen and was in the ninth grade. The class assignment was to write ‘A Letter to My Future Child.’ April didn’t get to hand in her assignment. We learn what happened in April’s young life and get an insight, sometimes an unreliable one as there are contradictions, into her and Gabriel’s personalities through the letters she carried on writing, in the form of a journal, to the child she named Aurora Grace.

Aurora Grace, the one thing in the world that I know I want to be is a mother, your mother. The idea of writing you a letter now that you can read someday gave me what Papa Pete would have called “purpose” and “direction” and all kinds of other things I’ve never had enough of. It made me so happy, I actually thanked Mrs. Brixton for the assignment. But now, I know I’ll never be able to turn it in. School is out in less than a week. And one way or another, I will be gone by sunrise.

With love

April (Your Future Mom)

A character driven tale, Never Look Back is told from the perspectives of Quentin, Robin and April, showing how events from the past still resonate in the present day, causing more deaths and ruined lives as secrets and lies are uncovered. Is it ever worth looking back and possibly causing more harm than good? Are the answers worth the pain?

Never Look Back is an atmospheric, complex and well crafted thriller, intriguing and tragic with twists I never saw coming. A multilayered and diverse cast of flawed characters all have a role to play in the story. No-one is superfluous. Past and present are woven as emotions, insecurities, guilt and anger slowly rise. Do we ever really know someone completely?

I listened to the audio which was pretty good. Jorjeana Marie gave her characters distinct voices and the emotion came through, but I wasn’t able to distinguish the male characters from one another. I would definitely seek out more of this author’s work.

About the Author

Alison Gaylin is the Edgar award-winning author of 11 books. A USA Today and international bestseller, she worked, very long ago, as a reporter for a supermarket tabloid, where she developed a lifelong fascination with writing about people doing despicable things.

Author links ~ Website | Twitter | Facebook