After Anna

Riveting and disquieting, After Anna is a groundbreaking domestic thriller, as well as a novel of emotional justice and legal intrigue. New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline keeps readers on their toes until the final shocking page.

Nobody cuts deeper than family...

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she'd lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna's murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.


Praise for Lisa Scottoline:

"A deliciously distracting thriller...Scottoline illuminat[es] the landing strip of revelations and truths in a deliciously slow and intense way." —The Washington Post on After Anna

"Scottoline keeps the pace relentless as she drops a looming threat into the heart of an idyllic suburban community, causing readers to hold their breath in anticipation." —Booklist on One Perfect Lie

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416 pages

Average rating: 7.12

25 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Dec 11, 2024
8/10 stars
I received this book from netgalley as an ARC. I'm so glad I got to read it! Some other books by this author I had a harder time getting into it. This was a great thriller with twists and suspense! I loved the two perspectives from the different time periods. It worked really well and was very understandable! I really got a feel for the characters and could understand all of their perspectives. I did feel like they overplayed the son having apraxia. They made him appear much younger than 11 years old.
Scmay
Jul 29, 2024
8/10 stars
I was soooo confident that I called the plot twists but this was one of the rare times I was wrong. I couldn't believe the twists in this story. It was a tad convoluted but I still enjoyed following along.

Definitely would recommend this as a thriller!
JHSiess
Feb 03, 2024
8/10 stars
Lisa Scottoline never fails to deliver suspenseful stories with jaw-dropping plot twists. After Anna is not only no exception, but may well be her most nuanced, tautly constructed, and nuanced work to date. And yes, some developments in the story are shocking -- readers will not see them coming. This tale about Dr. Noah Alderman and Maggie Ippolitti is told not only by alternating narrators but in contrasting chronological order, an extremely difficult approach that Scottoline masters seamlessly. Noah and Maggie are happily raising Noah's young son from his prior marriage. But one thing is missing from their life -- Maggie's daughter, Anna. Maggie lost custody of Anna to Anna's father years ago and has not seen her since she was a baby. When Anna reaches out following the death of her wealth father, Maggie is overjoyed to have another chance to parent the daughter she has desperately missed. Noah is completely supportive, but Anna, now 17, disrupts their quiet, ordered life. When she is murdered shortly after coming to live with them, Maggie is torn apart -- could her loving husband really have murdered her daughter? Maggie has to find answers as Noah stands trial, fighting for his life. Maggie''s discoveries propel her dangerous and disturbing quest to learn the truth about her daughter's life, death, and the man she married. The action never slows. Rather, it builds at a relentless pace, with Scottoline inserting revelations at expertly-timed intervals, until the astonishing conclusion!
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Amanda Panda
Sep 09, 2022
Finally a book that didn’t have a totally predictable ending. Good read all the way through.
Danielsgirl
Jul 28, 2022
8/10 stars
Great storyline, it expressed strong emotion of characters.

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