Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2017
352 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
The story of a scandal-torn Pennsylvania town and the aftermath of a troubled girl gone missing.
"Where did they come from? Why did they fall? The question would be asked a thousand times…
Until, of course, a more important question arose, at which time everyone promptly forgot that a thousand birds fell on the town of Mount Oanoke at all."
In a quiet Pennsylvania town, a thousand dead starlings fall onto a high school baseball field, unleashing a horrifying and unexpected chain of events that will rock the close-knit community.
Beloved baseball coach and teacher Nate Winters and his wife, Alicia, are well respected throughout town. That is, until one of the many reporters investigating the bizarre bird phenomenon catches Nate embracing a wayward student, Lucia Hamm, in front of a sleazy motel. Lucia soon buoys the scandal by claiming that she and Nate are engaged in an affair, throwing the town into an uproar…and leaving Alicia to wonder if her husband has a second life.
And when Lucia suddenly disappears, the police only to have one suspect: Nate.
Nate's coworker and sole supporter, Bridget Harris, Lucia's creative writing teacher, is determined to prove his innocence. She has Lucia's class journal, and while some of the entries appear particularly damning to Nate's case, others just don't add up. Bridget knows the key to Nate's exoneration and the truth of Lucia's disappearance lie within the walls of the school and in the pages of that journal.
Told from the alternating points of view of Alicia, Nate, Lucia, and Bridget, The Blackbird Season is a haunting, psychologically nuanced suspense, filled with Kate Moretti's signature "chillingly satisfying" (Publishers Weekly) twists and turns.
"Starred Review. Moretti's tale of jealousy and obsession is nothing less than dark magic. Witchery indeed." - Kirkus
"This cautionary tale keeps the reader guessing to the end." - Publishers Weekly
"A powerful story about a missing girl and an accused suspect that takes a haunting look into the characters and relationships you think you know...Riveting and insightful, this is a book that lingers long after you turn the final page." - Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls
"Kate Moretti's insightful, starkly human mystery about a girl they call 'witch' has that sit-down, gotta-cry eloquence readers long for. Mean girl alliances and small town loyalties collapse in unison on the day the blackbirds fall. This story will hold you tight to its pages well past your bedtime. The Blackbird Season is Moretti's best yet." - Lisa Turner, Edgar Award finalist author of The Gone Dead Train and Devil Sent the Rain
"The Blackbird Season pulls off a very difficult thing: it's nail-biting and thought-provoking all at once. It's a rare that a book can make you turn pages like your life depends on it, but also give you food for thought because the characters are so perfectly drawn. A stunning achievement from an extremely talented writer." - Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew
"A thrilling morality tale of the highest order, The Blackbird Season will make you question the lines between right and wrong, victim and criminal, and the unknowable intentions that form our innocence and guilt." - Mindy Mejia, author of Everything You Want Me to Be
"A spellbinding tale of long-held secrets and small-town scandal, The Blackbird Season is one of those stories that sneaks up on you, each chapter building steadily to an ending that will haunt you long after you turn the last page." - Kimberly Belle, bestselling author of The Marriage Lie
"The characters are authentically flawed and believable, and part of the mystery is the unfolding of their motivations…The Blackbird Season is about how people - teens and adults alike - get lost and disconnected. All that, plus a suspenseful mystery - what more can you ask for?" - Holly Brown, author of Don't Try to Find Me
"Kate Moretti's trademark vivid characterizations, surprising storyline, and heart-stopping suspense kept me eagerly turning pages long into the night." - Carla Buckley, author of The Good Goodbye
"The Blackbird Season is more than a haunting mystery; it's an intense exploration of a family in crisis and a community rocked by scandal... I couldn't stop reading until I knew the whole and harrowing truth." - Laura McHugh, award-winning author of The Weight of Blood and Arrowood
This information about The Blackbird Season was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kate Moretti is the New York Times bestselling author of Thought I Knew You, Binds That Tie, and While You Were Gone. She lives in eastern Pennsylvania with her husband and two kids.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
