The Ex by Alafair Burke

The Ex by Alafair Burke

My Rating: ★★★★

Olivia is a defense lawyer who is called on to defend her ex fiancé when he is arrested as the main suspect for a triple homicide case. She tries to get Jack to let her pass his case onto someone else because of their past, but he begs her to stay on because she knows him… or does she? One of the victims is the father of the man who killed Jack's wife in a shooting spree, and Olivia begins to ask herself if she really knows Jack the way she thinks he does as the evidence stacks up.

Burk produces a page turner that falls somewhere between being a courtroom drama and personal drama. Olivia narrates the story, and she has a lot of energy on Jack because of their past. Her guilt about how their relationship ended casts a long shadow on how she views Jack as she collects evidence that goes in his favor as well as against him. We learn a lot about these two characters and how the two have been holding a torch of sorts for each other for all of these years. This is certainly not how they thought they'd be entering each other's lives again. In the midst of Olivia's reminiscing, we learn about Jack's living family, which consists of his teenage daughter and his best friend. These two are integral to his impending trial because they both want to be knee deep in helping a man they believe to be innocent.

I honestly thought I knew exactly where the plot was going and how it was going to end, but I was oh so wrong. Burke really pulled one on me! I was glued to the pages even when I was confident in thinking that I knew exactly where this was heading. I side eyeing Olivia at times because I thought she was blinded by the past. Even when things seem obvious, there's still a bit of a mystery going. If this was a movie, I would watch it again so I could see how view it after knowing what I know after it ended, so I will definitely have to reread because it's that good.