The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti

A husband, a father, a teacher, a coach, and now a suspended teacher accused of having an affair with a student.

Did it really happen, though, or did Lucia make it up?  

Nate was always involved with this students on a personal level and helped the ones who appeared to be in distress.  Did this backfire on him?

THE BLACKBIRD SEASON is mainly about the characters and their lives after the blackbirds fell and after Lucia disappeared.  Did Lucia have anything to do with the blackbirds falling from the sky or did the blackbirds have anything to do with Lucia's disappearance?  Her fellow students do call her a witch.

THE BLACKBIRD SEASON is considered a thriller, but it didn't seem like a thriller to me.  I saw it more as an investigation into people's lives and what some people have to go through on a daily basis or during a crisis.

Addressing teenagers and their behavior was a major theme as well.

The book has four main narrators, and we hear from each one and how each one is connected to each other and to the situation. 

The intrigue for me was in the behavior of the characters. The characters did grow on you toward the end as you became familiar with their lives instead of feeling annoyed with them.
 
Nate seemed to be too helpful for his own good.

Poor Alecia was so overwhelmed with her special needs child and had no clue about anything her husband, Nate, did.

Bridget, still mourning the loss of her husband, seemed genuine and a bit shaky about the situation Nate was in since he was a good friend.

Lucia was a troubled teenager with a bad home life and a teenager who needed attention and got attention in the wrong way.

The flocks of blackbirds seemed to serve as the background for the ominous situations that occurred in the small, gossip-ridden, mill town of Mt. Oanoke, Pennsylvania. 

The book kept my interest because I wanted to see what happened to Lucia and if Nate would be found innocent.  The suspense definitely was not edge-of-your-seat.

If you enjoy digging into the lives of folks and their emotions along with a lot of questionable choices, THE BLACKBIRD SEASON should be a good read for you. 

Let me know what you think of this book.  I started out with a rating of 3/5, but raised it to a 4/5 because the ending was suspenseful.

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and Net Galley in return for an honest review.