Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead 
Published by Brilliance Audio on July 1, 2024
Genres: Suspense
Pages: 265
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Sophie Amoss
Length: 10 hrs 18 min
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
In this debut thriller, a troubled child psychologist returns to a small Louisiana town to protect her secrets but winds up having to protect her life.
Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career. But when a viral video of a disastrous television interview puts her reputation on the line, Willa retreats to Broken Bayou, the town where she spent most of her childhood summers. There she visits her aunts’ old house and discovers some of her troubled mother’s belongings still languishing in the attic—dusty mementos harboring secrets of her harrowing past.
Willa’s hopes for a respite are quickly crushed, not only by what she finds in that attic but also by what’s been found in the bayou.
With waters dropping due to drought, mysterious barrels containing human remains have surfaced, alongside something else from Willa’s past, something she never thought she’d see again. Divers, police, and media flood the area, including a news reporter gunning for Willa and Travis Arceneaux—a local deputy and old flame.
Willa’s fate seems eerily tied to the murders. And with no one to trust, she must use her wits to stay above water and make it out alive.
Note to Self: Don’t move anywhere named Broken Bayou.
Dr Willa Watters is a psychologist specializing in children. She is promoting her new book when she ends up having a breakdown on a local morning news program. Since it is a small local station, it shouldn’t been too bad, right? Except thanks to things like YouTube, it seems everyone has watched Willa’s breakdown, including ripping off her blouse along with the microphone wires.
It is possible that her breakdown had something do to with her own childhood trauma that she needs to face down in Broken Bayou. Since she now needs to keep a low profile, this is the perfect time to deal with her Aunts’ estates and the things Willa’s mother left hidden in their attic.
But even though it has been years since Willa, her sister and her mother used to visit their Aunts in Broken Bayou, small towns never seem to forget you. But small towns do love their gossip and once word of Willa’s arrival spreads, so does the video of her recent TV appearance, and there is whispering wherever she goes.
One face Willa is happy to see is her former summer flame and local juvenile delinquent, Travis Arceneaux, who is now part of the local police force.
There is one thing that does take the focus off of Willa’s problems. It seems Broken Bayou is experiencing a long, hot summer including a severe draught in the area and as the level of the bayou drops, things that have been long hidden are now coming to light, including barrels containing human remains…and the car that Willa’s mother made then 15-year-old Willa get rid of one night.
All Willa wants to do is leave Broken Bayou in her rearview, but with questions about the car, the police don’t want her to leave, but with a possible serial killer on the loose, she can only hope she can stay safe before the killer strikes again.
THOUGHTS:
Broken Bayou makes me glad I don’t know anything about small town life. It feels like these towns are full of abusive family relationships which are detrimental to the children involved. First, Willa’s mother is a narcissist, flitting from one relationship to another and never holding a steady job. Summers with her Aunts in Broken Bayou is as close to a stable home life as Will and her younger sister ever had. We also find out that Travis’s parents were pretty abusive to him and his siblings. This is just not somewhere you want to grow up.
The chapters only jump back and forth from the past to the present with regard to the serial killer but we learn about Willa’s past through her memories and in her conversations with her mother who is now sick and in a nursing home.
Although there were some scenes which were unnecessary or dragged out a bit too long, especially at the beginning, I think the pacing of this mystery was good and it kept you guessing until the very end when all the pieces finally clicked together.
