Through the Heart

Morgenroth's latest begins with the police report of a homicide, then introduces the two main characters and works backwards. Bullied Nora is stuck in a dead-end job in Kansas, caring for her cancer-stricken mother. Spoiled rich boy Timothy walks into the coffee shop where Nora works, and it's mad love at first sight. A more unlikable pair of lovers is hard to imagine. She's spineless, he's brutally selfish, but they are united in their mutual distaste for their dreadful, if hopelessly stereotypical, families, who return their disdain. Alternating chapters—“Timothy,” “Nora,” and “The Investigation”—describe the course of their relationship and its consequences, one of which is a murder the morning of their wedding, the same murder that opens the book. As in They Did It with Love , the final revelation (who is murdered? who is the murderer?) is meant to be shocking. But after the hackneyed romance, obvious metaphors (e.g., the murder victim is stabbed through the heart) and nonsurprises, it's difficult to still care. Morgenroth has a strong, snarky voice and good pacing, but this book is a misfire. (Dec.)