Do you really want to know?

In this near-ish-future novel cloning has become possible. And the cloning is such that if someone has died as an adult their "person" can be put into a fully formed version of themselves and all they lose is a few days of memory from around the time of their death. Okay, I know that sounds kind of impossible, but for the sake of this dark, sharp novel, just go with it. 

With that context we meet Lou. Lou is a wife (to Silas) and mother (of baby Nova) who has recently been brought back to life. Generally the people who are being cloned are extremely wealthy, but because of a scandal with kickbacks and corruption, the government decided to bring back Lou and several other women, all murdered by a serial killer, as a way to quell public protest about who is was being chosen. But for Lou, the reasons for why she was brought back matter less than why she was killed in the first place. Why did the killer pick her? And she's not the only one. She and her fellow murderees are having regular meetings and Lou is not alone in wanting answers. As Lou and delves into the events just prior to her death, she discovers that the answers may come from closer to home.

This is slow to build, but well worth it for the dark humor, exploration of our fascination with true crime, and the intriguing way in which the mystery comes together. Author Katie Williams will be appearing at the Wisconsin Book Festival at 1:30 on Saturday at the Central Library.