The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver

I often wonder how much world knowledge is lost when the only "knower" dies without passing along their story. Somebody knows what really happened in every conspiracy, murder, tragedy or drama - but we may never know the truth if it's never spoken.

And that's the core of this story, too: Noa never took the stand in her own defense, and the mother of the victim wants to know the true story of what happened on New Year's Day. But it's a tangled web of deceit and lies (and goes much deeper than that one day). Awaiting her inevitable execution, this story is really all Noa has left to hold onto and she's not giving it up easily.

I loved that this book unspooled gradually. The book just dips you into the pool and you figure things out once you're already wet. At first you don't know who's dead - then you learn it's Sarah. But who was Sarah to Noa? Clue by clue you learn more and the story Noa's holding reveals itself. But it's probably not the story anybody really wants to hear.

This is an excellent book, and I devoured the last 100 pages way too late after my bedtime because I could not put it down.