SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE by Sarah Schmidt

PUBLISHER: Atlantic Monthly Press, 8/2017
GENRE: Historical Fiction/Retelling
SETTING: Massachusetts, USA, 1892
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid: Someone has killed Father. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbors struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Bordens, those close to the family have a different tale to tell of a father with an explosive temper; a spiteful stepmother; and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence.

As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling.

MY THOUGHTS: This is a fictionalized retelling of an infamous unsolved true crime case. I know about the case so it was easy to follow along and I knew who the characters were ahead of time. I didn't like the constant shifting around from the day of the murders to various times in the past and the story did drag a bit. Chapters alternate between the points of view of Lizzie, Emma, Bridget, and Benjamin, and I liked that.

I didn't like the addition of Benjamin, a character not part of the true case, and cohort of her uncle John, or what Uncle John was up to with him. It didn't really make any sense for John to plan what he did, he had nothing to gain by it, and what didn't eventually happen was too coincidental to be believable. I do like how the author made it seem like each character except Emma could have been guilty and presented situations /reasons why they'd want to off them. I wanted to see what she did with Lizzie at the end, make her guilty or innocent, so it was exciting to see where it was leading.

Lizzie was made out to be odd and at times, childlike, and she did some gross things like peeked under the sheets the bodies were under and licked blood of her finger at other times, as did another character. She was made to be excited somewhat by the deaths and I don't think I liked that.