Book Review: Delta County by J.L. Hyde

Delta County Secret Synopsis

“Delta County: A Novel” by J.L. Hyde is a story about Heather Matthews, who experiences the best and worst days of her life in Delta County. Ten years after a tragedy that took the lives of two people she loved the most, Heather returns to her hometown for a class reunion with her high school sweetheart, who is now her husband. She is reminded of all the reasons to love the idyllic lakeside town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but her life is once again turned upside down when events occur that force her to investigate the tragedy and question everything she thought she knew about it.

As Heather delves deeper into the investigation, she must push her grief aside and confront the possibility of betrayal from those close to her in the small town. In Delta County, where everyone knows each other, betrayal always hits a little too close to home. The novel takes readers on a journey through grief, love, and betrayal as Heather struggles to uncover the truth and come to terms with the events that changed her life forever.

***Delta County SPOILERS BELOW***

Delta County Review

I’m happy to say the husband did not do it. This was a nice, bite-sized story where we followed Heath’s account of what it was like to return to her hometown 10 years after her parents were run off the road by her best friend’s mother. During this reunion, she reconnects with her best friend, Kelly, and Kelly shares she has further info about the night Heath’s parents died. However, before she can share the info, Kelly dies. Kelly’s death was first ruled an accident. Heath refuses to accept Kelly’s death was an accident, so she convinces her husband to move back to their hometown so she can further investigate. Turns out Heath was right, but she found out much more along the way.

Her husband’s, Ryan, parents were involved. His father, Frank, was in love with Kelly’s mother, Lisa, and Kelly was their child. Mitzi, Ryan’s mother, found out about the affair the night Heath’s parents died. Frank slapped her when she got overly confrontational and she knocked out. Frank and Lisa took her in the car and started to drive her home after the incident, but she woke up midway through. As they were driving, she spotted Heath’s car on the road, and she attacked Lisa while she was driving causing her to run Heath’s car off the road. Mitzi was hoping Kelly was in the car and wanted her to die. However, it turns out Heath’s parents were driving and that’s how they died. So while Lisa was driving, Mitzi was the cause of the accident. Fast forward to Kelly’s death, Mitzi was seen in the background of a picture taken the night Kelly died and therefore, we found out Mitzi was responsible for that, too.

The story ends with Heath going to Mitzi’s house and killing her with her bare hands. We find out that the therapist chapters were actually taken place in a prison where a therapist was visiting Heath to understand what her state of mind was at the time of the murder. Lastly, a side plot throughout the book was Ryan being infatuated with Julie, an old flame from high school. And when Heath murdered Mitzi’s mother, Julie was there at the time with her newborn and when Heath got a better look at the baby she realized that it was Julie and Ryan’s child. All I can say is this damn book was full of some good twists and turns and I’m happy with how it all unfolded.

Yes, the next books in the series are Summer of ’99 and Midnight in Delta County.

This book is 326 pages long.