by Marlie Parker Wasserman
Publisher: Level Best Books
Pages: 260
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: On a winter day in 1898, hundreds of spectators gather at a Brooklyn courthouse, scrambling for a view of the woman they label a murderess. Martha Place has been charged with throwing acid in her stepdaughter’s face, hitting her with an axe, suffocating her with a pillow, then trying to kill her husband with the same axe. The crowd will not know for another year that the alleged murderess becomes the first woman in the world to be executed in the electric chair. None of her eight lawyers can save her from a guilty verdict and the governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, refuses to grant her clemency.
Was Martha Place a wicked stepmother, an abused wife, or an insane killer? Was her stepdaughter a tragic victim? Why would a well-dressed woman, living with an upstanding husband, in a respectable neighborhood, turn violent? Since the crime made the headlines, we have heard only from those who abused and condemned Martha Place.
Kritters Thoughts: Martha Place had a horrible childhood that did not set her up for success. She ended up in a loveless marriage that gave her security, but not much else and in my humble opinion she snapped and after reading the abuse she endured, I don't completely blame her! Her actions are just a part of the story as she becomes a first in history, maybe not a first that you want in the history books!
The thing for me with this book was that the quick switching of perspectives messed with the flow of the story for me. I love a story where you get multiple points of view so you can see an event through many eyes, but this book felt like two many points of view and they changed as soon as I was getting into their minds. I wish it had limited the voices to just a few and their portions would have been longer in length.
Because of the way it was written, that really affected my enjoyment of the story and I now would love to read Martha Place's story written in a different way because I think it would be so interesting to hear about the first women who was sent to the electric chair, but I want to hear it from just a few people.
While a debut novel that I didn't completely love, I would be intrigued to try another from this author to see if it was just this one and not how this author writes her stories.
Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more
Ebook 2021 Challenge: 103 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Partner in Crime Tours. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Thanks for the review. I think this one does sound interesting. I think I might give it a try!
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