I almost gave up on this one. The first 20–25 percent is heavy with long paragraphs of description, backstory, and extraneous details. Actually, truth be told, the entire book has way too much exposition, and I found myself skipping large swaths of text containing unnecessary or repetitive information. However, once Act I was over, things finally got interesting, and I was hooked. That’s not to say I didn’t skim in quite a few places, but it is to say that I was invested and was glad I didn’t give up, as I had considered doing early on.

Twenty Years Later is a high-concept, plot-driven story with a lot of clever(ish) twists. I say “plot driven” because the characters felt underdeveloped. Donlea clearly spent most of his time researching (something he shows off unnecessarily through numerous long descriptions and monologues), developing the plot, and weaving together the storylines, rather than on his characters. Avery is a Mary Sue with a Midas touch; Walt is your typical tortured detective with a drinking problem. None of the characters have distinctive voices. There are far too many character monologues, with very little context and a very narrow range of emotions, gestures, etc. (In one scene, “Walt smiled” six times. SIX. Were Donlea’s editors and beta readers awake?!)

And I say “clever(ish)” because I did pick up on most of the clues before they were revealed—sometimes far in advance, and sometimes just sentences before. Even so, the author does a good job obscuring these details, and I admit I was surprised at the end when the killer was revealed.

I’m not sure I would call this a thriller, though. The main characters’ lives were not, at any point, in danger, and I don’t think the pace is fast enough to be called the same. The climax of the book is not so much action as it is a summary of events from the narrator—a strange twist on the typical villain’s monologue. (Side note: If I had been Donlea’s editor, I would have, among other things, slashed several thousand words of unnecessary and repetitive exposition and sent him back to his desk to develop the last 10 percent of the book into actual scenes.) Furthermore, everyone gets a happy ending, and everything is neatly wrapped up in a pretty little bow, despite the fact that all the characters’ storylines were hella complicated. Just not realistic. Nothing about 9/11 had a tidy, satisfying ending.

Donlea is certainly is a talented writer, but I’m on the fence about whether I will read another of his books in the future.