The cover for Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin told me all I need to know.

I am a sucker for a great cover and the book design by Dana Leigh Blanchette evokes feelings of mystery and intrigue, making it a book that I want on my shelf.

What do you think of when you look at the cover?

MY REVIEW

I won Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway and I was very excited to get my hands on this character-based psychological thriller. I love reading about serial killers and Black -Eyed Susans has enough twists and turns that it kept me guessing to the very end. To delve into the minds of Tessie and Lydia shows the games our mind can play with us and how nothing is ever as it seems on the surface. Being buried alive is one of the creepiest things I can imagine and even though Tessie survived the experience, the emotional scars are much deeper than the physical ones. Lydia… Is her entire story told…or does she keep some secrets never to be brought to light? Doesn’t matter to me, I love her anyway. The death penalty…O J Simpson…guilt…innocence…If you want to jump at every noise in the night, every doorbell ringing…you will want to read Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin.

  4 Stars

Add me to Goodreads

To read more visit me at fundinmental.

• You may see my Giveaways HERE.
• You can see my Reviews HERE.
• me?
• If you like what you see, why don’t you follow
• Thanks for visiting!

Tessie is the only survivor of a brutal murderer (nicknamed Black-eyed Susans). The culprit is behind bars awaiting execution as this is Texas, but is he? Sadly this book took far too long to get going, wasn't creepy enough and it just didn't hold my attention. The reader is meant to empathise with Tessie as we find out what happened in alternate chapters when the teenager tells the tale. I realise I am going against the majority here but I just didn't like the way it was written and had to force myself to read it. I liked the cover very much!

Sixteen year old Tessie survived, just barely, at the hands of a madman.  She survived but in many ways she still lives through it and is still tormented by someone who continues to plant black-eyed susans on her property every year —  no matter where she moves and no matter how many times she moves.  Black-eyed susans remind her of that day.  She was in the same field as the other “Black-Eyed Susans”, a nickname given to the murdered girls.  They were all in a shallow grave covered over by these wildflowers.  Tessie did what many traumatized people would do – she blocked much of it from her mind.  Terrell Darcy Goodman had been arrested and in present day, his time on death row is nearing the end.  But is he the right man?

In present day, Tessa’s legal advisers want her to go under hypnosis.  They need her to remember.  She agrees she needs to remember, if for no other reason than to protect her daughter, fourteen year old Charlie.

If you want to know what a ‘psychological thriller’ looks like, it is this book.  The pacing did not take off initially for me, even though I was still intrigued.  The story weaves back and forth between Tessie, as she was known then in 1995, and Tessa in present day.  It takes courage to relive such a horrific experience, and the author portrays the character of Tessa as a very strong but traumatized individual.  Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin is named for lovely, bright flowers but is a story of the survivor of a serial killer whose past comes back to haunt her. The adult Tessa battles her fears and looks to uncover the truth, and the teenage Tessie tries to recover from the attacks. The book jumps back and forth to the two time periods to create a story that is part teenage drama and part mystery.

Read my complete review at: Memories From Books - Black-Eyed Susans

Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers program