Eustacia, the protagonist of Jill Johnson's The Woman in the Garden, spends her days in self-imposed isolation in her rooftop garden tending to her poisonous plants and her evenings spying on her neighbors through her telescope, especially her beautiful new neighbor whom she has nicknamed Psycho after one of her plants. Eustacia is a brilliant former professor but being on the spectrum has always made life challenging for her. Up until a year ago, she had her father, who was also a brilliant professor, to help her navigate life, but when he passes away, Eustacia doesn't know how to cope, and then her life completely falls apart after an accident rips her from her beloved university lab and places her in the police's crosshairs.
Now she guards her secret garden ferociously and tends to it meticulously, memorizing every leaf on every vine. She becomes just as fanatical about Psycho who is visited by four men, one of whom Eustacia recognizes in despair from her own past. Richard Wainwright has already ruined her life once before, stealing her only true love away from her, so Eustacia convinces herself that she must protect Psycho from Wainwright.
Eustacia has to begin engaging with people again in order to triumph, but when a horrible crime is committed, her actions place her again under suspicion from the very same detective who investigated her after her lab accident, and when she is reintroduced to her former love, she has to ponder the age old question if you can ever go back.
Although recommended, the reader has to be willing to extend their disbelief for an uncanny number of coincidences. Overall a fast-paced, enjoyable thriller.
ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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