Kate Moretti delivers a chilling new read

If you're looking for a chilling story that is just a little bit different, look no further. I have the perfect recommendation. The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti combines an intricate, satisfying plot with dynamic characters that will keep you awake at night reading "just one more chapter" until the last page has been turned.

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A small town in Pennsylvania is left puzzled and scared the day that a thousand dead birds rained down from the sky onto the high school baseball field. You read that right: birds fell from the sky. No one can explain this crazy phenomenon.

Hard as it is to imagine, something soon happens in that little town that makes everyone forget that it quite literally rained blackbirds one day...

Suddenly, baseball coach Nate Winters finds him at the epicenter of a scandal when a reporter comes to town to investigate the falling birds and sees Nate embracing Lucia outside a less-than-glamorous hotel. The flames of rumor are fanned by Lucia herself when she claims that she and Nate are having an affair.

Things go from bad to worse when Lucia suddenly goes missing, and all eyes are turned toward the number-one suspect, Nate.

Understandably, Alecia's world is turned upside down as she struggles to figure out what to believe, and the quiet life that was once enjoyed by the town's citizens is replaced by scandal, rumor, and upheaval. The town that once held Nate up on a pedestal turns against him, and the fissures in Nate's own marriage begin to widen.

Refusing to believe that Nate could really be to blame, his co-worker Bridget Harris goes on a mission to prove that Nate is innocent and to shed light on the true circumstances of Lucia's disappearance. Using Lucia's creative writing journal (Bridget is the girl's creative writing teacher) Bridget is determined to exonerate her friend and co-worker. What follows is at once a thrilling psychological ride and a story of relationships, of who you can trust and how well you really know the people with whom you share your life.

One of the best things about this book (other than the story itself) is the way the story is told. Alternating from points of view of each of the primary characters (Alecia, Nate, Bridget, and Lucia) the story continues to move ahead while keeping the reader guessing about what's really going on.

If you are seeking something completely immersive, the kind of book that will draw you in and keep hold of you until the very end, this is it. If you are already a fan of Moretti's books, The Blackbird Season won't disappoint. And if you haven't discovered her books yet, this is a great place to start.

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