Penitence Review

Author: Kristin Koval

Narrator: Therese Plummer

Publisher: Celadon Books/MacMillan Audio

Release Day: Jan. 28, 2025

Many thanks to Celadon Books for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

For readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.

Review:

PENITENCE by Author Kristin Koval is a complex, heartbreaking domestic suspense highlighting how impulsive decisions can change the trajectory of lives. Not only for the people directly involved, but also for the waves of people that wash in and out of lives over time. It's a story of profound grief, life altering choices, guilt, redemption and forgiveness. It's a story of the extraordinary power of love.

The story opens with thirteen-year-old Nora sitting in a jail cell while local police ponder what to do with a child that has just confessed to killing her older brother Nico. Nora hasn't spoken a word since the early morning hours when gunshots woke her parents, sending them rushing into the horrifying nightmare of their son lying in a pool of blood, their daughter holding the smoking gun. Fighting shock and tears, Nora's father David contacts small town lawyer Martine to plea for her to defend Nora while her mother Angela falls apart. Martine in turn contacts her son Julian, a successful New York City crime defense attorney who specializes in seeking justice for minors and asks him to take the case. This is where things get tricky . . . Julian and Nora's mother, Angela, were teenage sweethearts with plans for marriage after college before a tragic accident claimed a life, tearing the young lovers apart and banishing Julian to New York to live and finish school at the home of his grandmother. Both went on to marry others and appear to live normal, happy lives, but the burden of guilt, secrets and unanswered questions remain between them over what happened that dark night on the ski slopes. And now questions about what happened the night Nico’s killed are threatening to rip this family apart. Did Nora enter her brother's bedroom and shoot him with her father's gun in cold blood? Nora says she doesn't remember what happened, but is she telling the truth?

PENITENCE, Koval's debut novel, is an amazing, poignant, heart wrenching domestic thriller with a depth of characterizations and plot lines seldom found in debut novels. The story unfolds through dual timelines, the present with the tragedy unfolding with Nora and her family, and the past with Angela and Julian's tragic story with all its ugly secrets becoming known. Along the journey there are a multitude of broken promises and lives, all buried beneath some dark, take to the grave secrets that have festered for years. Koval's ability to tap into human emotions following unspeakable trauma is a stunning achievement. Richly drawn characters render flawless performances as the author delves deeply into the flawed juvenile justice and legal system highlighting the tendency to punish vs. rehabilitation. From the first page to the last, the pace escalates as Nora's situation plummets at every twist and turn until the final verdict is rendered. Some readers may find the ending too open ended, while others will nod their heads in agreement that justice is served. This reader is somewhere in the middle.

I highly recommend the audiobook version of PENITENCE as narrator Thérèse Plummer delivers an outstanding performance rich in emotion bringing each character to life. PENITENCE is a stunning, gut wrenching domestic thriller that encourages self-reflection. One this reader couldn't put down. Two stories of unfathomable tragedy, two shattered families entwined in crisis, two snap decisions decades apart forever changing the course of lives. Highly recommended to fans of soul-searching domestic suspense and family drama. I look forward to more from the talented Author Kristin Koval.

Synopsis:

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of post-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness.