Fixing the roof is not the same as keeping the lid on

Mercury by Amy Jo Burns

In 1990 Seventeen-year-old Marley West pulls into town with her mother.  It has always just been the two of them, but then Marley meets the Joseph brothers, the local roofers, and their lives become intertwined in ways Marley could not foresee.  Soon it seems like the whole Joseph family revolves around Marley.  But the past doesn't die and secrets will out.  Can the family survive the turmoil of old wounds, the chaos of new ones, and the uncertainty of eerie discoveries?

The book starts out with a bang.  There is mystery and murder and the promise of old secrets coming to light.  But then it slows down, a lot.  It took me a while to get interested in the characters here.  But once I did, I was caught.  From the way the book began it was not what I expected.  I thought it was going to be more of a mystery, but it a character driven story about family.  All the parts of being a family, the good, the bad and the ugly.  It is heartbreaking at times and sometimes you want to smack some of the characters, but that's what good writing is all about.  You care enough about the characters to be mad at them, or happy for them, or worry for them.  The story follows the Joseph family through many changes as they try to deal with each other in a whirlwind of love, hate and hurt.  I like the way Burns uses Marley's appearance to show the family from the outside, both to the reader and to the family, so you can see the big picture.  I like how at the end you got to see a little from each person's perspective.  In the end I enjoyed the story a great deal, but after the lighting quick beginning the story took a little while to pick back up for me.  

I got a free copy of this book from Bookish First.