I initially found this to be a gripping read. I liked the style of the writing, quite poetic in places. I liked the description of Danny & Nathan's friendship and the build of of tension with the knowledge that Nathan would die and somehow Danny was either responsible for his death or so we would have been led to believe.

The problems started about half way through the book for me. The regular meetings with 'Father John Rousseau' did not read like a conversation with a priest ... very quickly it was evident that Father Rousseau was interested in the specific details of the case and I quickly realised this was not just so that we (as readers) were told the story. You even got the impression that Danny was suspicious of his detailed questioning but this never went further. As soon as one of the guards referred to him as 'Mr ...' instead of 'Father...' I had more or less guessed the ending of the book.

I also found it a little unbelievable that Linny Golbourne would have been 'incarcarated' for 12 years in a mental institution. Did this mean that all the mental health professionals at this institution were in on the conspiracy and that it took her Father's death for her to be able to 'speak out' about Danny's part in Nathan's murder?

There was also a section of the book that it felt like the build up to Nathan's murder was being strung out ever so slightly. We kept getting lines such as 'that was when the real nightmare began' and then pages later 'with her arrival everything shifted to a different level altogether.'

Finally, although I found the sections of detail about America's history with Vietnam/race issues/president assascinations interesting, I felt that these read like a 'brief outline of American politics' and felt a little disjointed to the rest of the book.

With all this said, I still read this book fairly quickly and did not always want to put it down. I would recommend the book to others and am interested to hear everyone else's thoughts. I would be interested to read more of this author's work.

I do agree that it was more compelling at the beginning than later in the story. I quite enjoyed reading this actually, which I hadn't expected (because it was in the crime section of the bookstore and I'm genre-ist   ). Initially I thought it was nicely paced - in a way it felt like a long companionable walk. And I liked how the story of Nathan and Daniel was told against the backdrop of major world events. I felt that this gave substance and context to the story and for me it made it a lot more readable. Plus I learned a little, which is always nice.  The sad truth is that a lot of this sort of stuff really happened and it wasn't that long ago. Has anyone seen Mississippi Burning?  

I didn't expect the twist with Father Rousseau until it was blatantly obvious   I had guessed he was more intersted than he was letting on nd I thought it had something to do with Linny. I do believe that Linny's father, being such a prominent figure, could have had her icnarcerated for all that time. Who was going to argue with such a powerful man? She and Danny were both imprisoned as a result of Nathan's death and I feel that in a way they did contribute to it. Linny knew or at least suspected the kind of man her father was and so we can assume that she knew that the relationship put Nathan in danger. Danny  didn't relay the warning to Nathan and who's to say that Nathan wouldn't have called it off or left town? But I don;t think either of them deserved the punishment they received.

I'm glad the ending was happy but I would have been equally content with a less happy outcome.

I guessed the twist, but wasn't disappointed; I wanted to find out if I was right. I cared heaps for Daniel and wanted a happy ending for him. I wonder if Roger Ellory meant for us to work it out, or was Father John's identity meant to be a total surprise? I can't help but wonder if Ellory actually wanted his readers to also be suspicious of Father John Rousseau. I found the whole story entirely plausible. I thoroughly enjoyed the book - not so much for the writing style this time (there were a few lines I found a wee bit too corny & sentimental), but for the characters, Daniel and Nathan. I did find the friendship with Eve Chantry too much of an attempt to recreate To Kill a Mockingbird, if that makes sense. That's how it felt to me anyway. But these are minor quibbles; I really enjoyed the book. 4/5 stars from me.