The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

The Anniversary asks: Do you escape tragedy, or just learn to live with it?

Every May 1st, a serial killer terrorizes a small Nebraska town. Seventeen-year-old Jules Delaney has beauty queen good looks and hidden depths. Seventeen-year-old Quinn Riley is dealing with the loss of his father while looking out for his non-verbal brother and aiming for college. Jules survives an attack by the May Day killer, and Quinn tries to break up a fight and finds himself looking at prison. While in prison, his mother is murdered. 

The structure of the story keeps the pace brisk as we drop in on these two characters once a year on May 1st, learning what has happened to each of them in the intervening year. Further tragedy strikes each of their lives, deepening the physical and emotional scars they each bear.  Each visit on May 1st reveals how another year has shaped them. Alternating perspectives between Jules and Quinn sustain suspense. Their feelings for one another always simmer, but they never seem to be in the right place at the right time. The format highlights how trauma reshapes them, transforming both from victims into advocates whose righteous purpose begins to border on obsession.

The story revolves around the dual mysteries of the May Day Killer and the murder of Quinn's mother. The emotional arc of Jules and Quinn's personal lives is the real driving force. Caring about these characters underscores the urgency for solving the mysteries. Even if you pick up clues that let you guess the identity of the killer, Alex Finlay still has shocks in store. The twists are as surprising as they are emotionally devastating.

This book is particularly well-suited to audiobook narration. The narrators, Brittany Pressley and Ari Fliakos, capture the personality, emotions, and devastation that each of the main characters experience. They pace the action scenes and linger in the emotional interludes to let you absorb the impact. Their distinctive voices help you track the shifts across time periods and characters. 

The Anniversary is one of the best thrillers of the year, with a unique narrative style underscored with genuine emotional punch. It is a special treat in audio format. I particularly loved the one-day-a-year format. Like snapshots of a child's first day of school, the transformation from year to year can be startling. The story lets you not only unmask the killer, but truly experience the impact on survivors. If you like fast-paced thrillers that let you follow the breadcrumbs but don't give away the twists, you'll enjoy this book. It helps you decide what surviving tragedy really looks like.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.