I enjoyed If You Tell and was hoping for more out of American Mother. It was incredibly well researched and well written. Like many other reviewers have said though, the book was very redundant. I did enjoy coming into it knowing nothing about the case and learning a ton along the way.

There is no doubt that Gregg Olsen can write. So many of his books have been among my favorites. This is not one of them. The subject matter in American Mother is intriguing. Product tampering is a horrific crime and can instill fear in whole communities. This book deals with cyanide poisoning in headache capsules and the deaths of Bruce Nickell, and Sue Snow both from the Pacific Northwest. The problem is that this this would make a perfect Dateline story and not a long-drawn-out novel. The story, though well written, is old news. Even an author with the creds of Olsen is forced into repetition. Too bad. It held such promise.

There was not enough dialogue for me to really get into the book. There was a lot of repetition throughout the book although the book was very researched. Others might enjoy this but it was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I have read so many of this author’s books that I was looking forward to another. I was disappointed. There really wasn’t much about any of the characters or the plot to make me care. A fictional account would have been better.