3.5 stars.

This book had a lot of promise. A sitting judge presiding over a gruesome murder case with a dark and unraveling past is a great start to a thriller.

The tough part for me was the multiple POVs and constantly shifting timelines. We needed frequent flashbacks to piece together the past and how it lead to current day events but the organization of those flashbacks made the plot difficult to follow (and not in a fun "keep you guessing" kind of way).

Overall, an interesting plot that kept me engaged until the finish but would have been better with more cohesive editing.

It was a pretty good thriller. Documents a story of sexual assault, so be aware going into it. Parts of it were a little uncomfortable in that regard.

I liked the main character Alice. Her daughter was concerningly immature and not totally believable. The depiction of Alzheimer's was cleverly written.

It kept me going to the end but there were certain thriller tropes that perhaps made it more predictable.

*Thank you very much to the publisher, Debbie Babitt, and Netgalley for an e-arc of "The First Victim" in exchange for a honest review *

This was a good thriller. It did keep me turning the pages (so to speak.) I do think the plot wasn't something I've personally read before, so that was refreshing.