Story for the Week
I am not typically someone who watches documentaries…unless, of course, they are true crime documentaries. 😉
Several months ago, ads for Good American Family overwhelmed my Tik Tok algorithm. The Hulu original series starred Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass as Kristine and Michael Barnett, the adoptive parents of Natalia Grace, played by Imogen Faith Reid. Based on real events, the series laid out the story of the Ukrainian-born child with dwarfism, who was adopted and later abandoned by the Barnetts.
Because of some unusual behavior exhibited by Natalia Grace, the Barnetts came to believe that she was older than her adoption papers indicated. While they retained guardianship of her, they had her “re-aged” in court, claiming that she was actually an adult, scamming families for much-needed healthcare and expensive surgeries.
Every time I saw an ad for the series, I sent it to Corinne and told her I really wanted to watch it because it looked fascinating. We had planned to finish binge watching Modern Family when Corinne returned from her semester in Liverpool, but Good American Family was only eight episodes. We figured we would watch those first and then go back to Modern Family.
About halfway into the series, Corinne and I still couldn’t decide whether we believed the Barnetts or Natalia Grace. Corinne isn’t typically one to want spoilers, but we agreed to look up the actual story. Knowing whether Natalia Grace was a child or an adult as we watched the series made a big difference in our reactions to what happened. Spoiler alert…it was determined that Natalia Grace was a child and should not have been re-aged. The Barnetts basically abandoned her in an apartment to fend for herself when she was about nine years old.
When we looked up the spoilers, we also discovered a 16-part documentary series called The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which originally aired from 2023 to 2025. At that point, Modern Family had to wait even longer because we were invested! After watching both the series and the documentary, I believe Natalia Grace was definitely problematic, but she was only a child. I’m still shocked the Barnetts were never truly brought to justice.
I don’t know for sure what the appeal is of true crime stories, but there is definitely an appeal. In fact, Corinne came home with a perfect example a couple of weeks ago. She’s spending part of her summer working on a research project at her university. As a part of the project, students work with professors to make courses more appealing to students.
One of the examples talked about 8 a.m. classes, which no student really wants to take unless they have to. So how do they make 8 a.m. classes more appealing? They adjust the subject matter. In one of the criminal justice courses, the entire syllabus focuses on true crime stories. It’s offered at 8 a.m., and it is always full. 🤷🏼♀️ Sounds way more appealing than the journalism law class I had to take at 8 a.m.
According to estimates, women are twice more likely than men to listen to true crime podcasts, and they make up the majority of the true crime audience in general. I have several friends who love true crime podcasts, so I don’t doubt the statistics. I’m not a listener of podcasts myself (my mind wanders), but give me a good true crime documentary or an episode of Criminal Minds or Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and I’m there (What Do We Have on the DVR?).
The book below centers around a family devastated by the incarceration of a high school senior for killing his girlfriend. A big part of the story line focuses on a Netflix documentary questioning his confession and looking for the truth.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay
368 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears.
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family―his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister―have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain―and they won’t tell Matt why.
The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny―currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte―was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.
When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison―putting his own life in peril―and forcing him to confront his every last fear.
************
Main Characters:
- Matt Pine – originally from Nebraska, a student at NYU, had a final the week the rest of his family died on a family vacation in Mexico, had not spoken to his father since they had an argument over Christmas break
- Sarah Keller – a special agent with the FBI, specializes in financial crimes, Evan Pine’s firm was under investigation for money laundering and he was on her interview list because of his recent firing, married to Bob who is a stay-at-home dad to their twins
- Cindy Ford – Matt’s aunt, his mother’s sister, still lives in their hometown in Nebraska, works as a postal carrier, oversees her father’s care in a full-time care center for dementia
- Danny Pine – Matt’s older brother, in prison for murdering his girlfriend in his senior year of high school, his father and sister have always been obsessed with proving Danny’s innocence, the case was the subject of a Netflix documentary that seemed to show that Danny’s confession was coerced
- The remaining Pines – Evan transferred to his firm’s Chicago office when their hometown turned against them after Danny’s trial, was recently fired after 25 years; Liv went to Nebraska with seven-year-old Tommy the week before the trip to Mexico to figure out her father’s care; Maggie was a senior in high school and always believed in Danny’s innocence along with her father
- Noah Brawn – Lieutenant Governor in Nebraska, in line to take the Governorship due to a scandal, dated Matt’s mother when they were in high school, has always supported Danny’s case
Sometimes you discover an author with their debut novel. Sometimes you discover them later in their career and need to go back and read all the novels you missed. That happened to me with Alex Finlay. I sought out this debut novel by Finlay after reading his most recent, which contained a character who appeared in his first two novels.
Every Last Fear tells the story of the Pine family. Oldest child Danny has been in prison for the murder of his girlfriend since his senior year of high school. His parents and younger sister continued to try to prove his innocence. A Netflix documentary questioned the verdict and suggested Danny’s confession was coerced.
Matt believes in his brother’s guilt and has spent the years since Danny’s conviction just trying to distance himself. When his family dies suspiciously in Mexico, Matt encounters some trouble himself when he goes to pick up their bodies. When the bodies are finally released to Nebraska for a funeral, he finds himself still facing the animosity from the residents of the town along with fearing for his own safety.
FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller gets pulled into the death investigation because she was due to interview Evan Pine, who had been fired from a firm suspected of money laundering. I love Keller’s character, and I’m glad that Finlay has written her into three different books. She’s tough, matter-of-fact, and smart on the job. Her relationship with her husband adds some levity. Bob chose to be a stay-at-home dad to their twins. He calls Keller G-woman and tells her she’s a bad ass, and at the same time, you can tell that he respects her by the way he listens to her and offers advice.
Finlay’s style makes it easy to get lost in a story. Short chapters with dual points of view between Matt and Keller create pacing that makes you want to keep reading. And there are multiple possibilities for why the Pines died. I had so many suspicions, and none of them were correct. That, for me, is what makes a great thriller. I want to think I have it figured out, but I want to be surprised at the end. I want that moment where I gasp and think (or even say out loud) “noooooo!” Finlay does that for me.
I discovered Alex Finlay when I read What Have We Done (You Really Do Get Only One First Impression). At the time, I said that I wished I could go back and read the book again for the first time without knowing the outcome because the ending was such a surprise. That made me an immediate fan. My first Finlay novel was his third. My second Finlay novel was his fifth, Parents Weekend (New and Improved Texting Manners), and it was Sarah Keller’s character in that fifth novel that led me back to his first two.
While this novel released first, his sophomore novel The Night Shift (Who Here Had a Y2K Bug?) also features Keller, but in that one, she is eight months pregnant with her twins. While all three novels with Keller are fully stand-alone, I recommend reading his first two novels in reverse order to avoid baby whiplash, which means read this one second. 🤣 But definitely read them. You won’t be disappointed.
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