Editorial Content for The Final Episode
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Reviewer (text)
Edgar Award-winning author Lori Roy utilizes all of her talents in THE FINAL EPISODE, which includes not just mystery and thrills, but also the modern-day obsession with true-crime TV shows and podcasts to examine an unsolved child abduction.
Nine-year-old Francie Farrow disappeared from her room one evening 20 years ago. According to 12-year-old Nora Banks, who was having a sleepover with Francie at the time, a man took her and claimed he was bringing her to Big Cypress Swamp. Their fates were intertwined with the family of Jennifer Jones, who was about to turn 11 the summer that Francie vanished. Jennifer was highly interested, almost to the point of obsession, with the case. Little did she realize that her own father, Paul, would be accused and later convicted of the much-publicized kidnapping, even though Francie was never found.
"[The finale of 'Inspired by True Events'] brings an unbearable amount of tension to those who are fully invested in the outcome of this chilling exposé. This is a thriller of the highest caliber and is not to be missed."
In the present, Jennifer is still adapting to life on her own with a father in prison whom she never visits. She has a new obsession, a TV series called “Inspired by True Events,” which is doing a serial retelling that is dramatically recreated and uncovers everything known about the Francie Farrow/Paul Jones case. What intrigues Jenny and millions of others are the unknown facts that this series has become known for revealing. Jenny and all who are watching will be tuned in breathlessly as they await the revelations that may come from the final episode.
Jennifer is still being tormented by Francie's mother, Beverly, whose hatred has been reignited by the series. She calls her only friend, Arlen, the night that Beverly throws a cinder block through her front window. She does not press charges and even receives a visit from Francie’s father, Robert, who bears no ill will towards Jennifer and sees her as an unfortunate victim during the 20 years that their fates were interlocked.
The series initially puts some suspicion on a figure who was a very big suspect at the time of Francie’s abduction. Levi Banks was the husband of Elizabeth, the housekeeper for the Farrow family, and they were Nora's parents. Levi had a history of violent behavior and well-documented marital troubles with Elizabeth. When rumors that she was having an affair became known, Levi very well could have acted out in a manner that included kidnapping Francie as punishment for his duplicitous wife’s actions.
THE FINAL EPISODE not only goes back and forth in time, but also spends several chapters covering each episode of “Inspired by True Events” --- all of which will culminate in the finale, which brings an unbearable amount of tension to those who are fully invested in the outcome of this chilling exposé. This is a thriller of the highest caliber and is not to be missed.
Teaser
Jennifer Jones and her best friends spend every summer at Big Cypress Swamp, and this summer, Jennifer finally will turn 11. She hopes to gain the “second sight” foretold by family legend and fulfill her destiny. Instead, the swamp serves up dangers greater than the gators lurking on Halfway Creek. Little Francie Farrow vanishes --- and Jennifer’s father goes to prison. Twenty years later, Jennifer has almost shed the label of Paul Jones’ daughter when her past comes barreling back. “Inspired by True Events,” a TV series that solves the unsolvable, is recreating that fateful summer. As the series plays out, Jennifer wonders: Did the show finally find Francie Farrow? And is Jennifer’s father truly guilty? Someone else wants answers even more than Jennifer does, and they won’t let her forget it.
Promo
Jennifer Jones and her best friends spend every summer at Big Cypress Swamp, and this summer, Jennifer finally will turn 11. She hopes to gain the “second sight” foretold by family legend and fulfill her destiny. Instead, the swamp serves up dangers greater than the gators lurking on Halfway Creek. Little Francie Farrow vanishes --- and Jennifer’s father goes to prison. Twenty years later, Jennifer has almost shed the label of Paul Jones’ daughter when her past comes barreling back. “Inspired by True Events,” a TV series that solves the unsolvable, is recreating that fateful summer. As the series plays out, Jennifer wonders: Did the show finally find Francie Farrow? And is Jennifer’s father truly guilty? Someone else wants answers even more than Jennifer does, and they won’t let her forget it.
About the Book
When a true-crime series chronicles the tragic childhood summer that changed her life forever, a young woman must grapple with the truth about her father…and herself.
Jennifer Jones and her best friends spend every summer at Big Cypress Swamp, and this summer, Jennifer finally will turn 11. She hopes to gain the “second sight” foretold by family legend and fulfill her destiny. Instead, the swamp serves up dangers greater than the gators lurking on Halfway Creek. Little Francie Farrow vanishes --- and Jennifer’s father goes to prison.
Twenty years later, Jennifer has almost shed the label of Paul Jones’ daughter when her past comes barreling back. “Inspired by True Events,” a TV series that solves the unsolvable, is recreating that fateful summer. As the series plays out, Jennifer wonders: Did the show finally find Francie Farrow? And is Jennifer’s father truly guilty?
Someone else wants answers even more than Jennifer does, and they won’t let her forget it.
As the series nears its finale and the long-awaited truth, Jennifer must come to terms with who her family is…and what that makes her.
Audiobook available, read by P.J. Morgan
