Janeology

Karen Harrington gets points for a great title.

And a great novel.

This is a book I’ve been reading over the past month in bits and pieces – because I had so much going on. It’s a story of a woman who is “done being a mother” and decides to drown her toddler twins. One survives.

The murderer, Jane, is put in a mental institution for the crime and the book focuses on her husband, Tom, who is charged with “failure to protect.” The prosecutor claims he should have seen this coming and should have done something to prevent the murder.

Tom’s lawyer plans a defense and hopes to show that Jane’s ancestors had a history of violent behavior that was passed down to her, that Tom wasn’t aware of, and that he had no way of predicting or knowing she could or would do this. Mariah, a family member with retrocognition, helps prepare their defense. She is able to tell the stories of Jane’s ancestors.

For me, the novel is just a fascinating story of how we are all influenced, for good or bad, by our ancestors, how neglectful or violent traits can be passed down through the generations until someone stops the cycle. The more of the book I read, the more I liked it.

The book is well written and covers a fresh angle to an unfortunately well-worn-story-of-family-tragedy that we see on the news so often.

For more about the book, check out Janeology.

Read an excerpt.

And I hope Texan Karen Harrington is writing another book; I’d like to read more of her work.