Certainty

"We may think it, but have they shown us any proof?" ~ 57%

Do you dread jury duty? Do you avoid being chosen? Well a woman finds herself serving on a high-profile jury instead of joining her husband on a retreat. Doubt casts a long shadow in this suspenseful short story by the bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me and The First Time I Saw Him. 

Dr. Preston Becker is a pharmaceutical exec accused of driving too fast through an intersection and striking twin girls. The case seems straightforward. But as the murder trial advances, truths conflict and it's not so black and white. Cora is sequestered with eleven strangers with eleven different views of the facts, and reaches the limits of certainty. All the evidence in the world won't help understand another person.

Certainty is a very short story that jumps from one point to another. Yet in just 34 pages, it drew me in as if I was in the courtroom myself. It finished quite abruptly with a strange twist that left me confused. Uncertain, if you will. Maybe that was the author's point.

Happy Early Pub Day to Laura Dave! Certainty will be available Tuesday, December 1 for a dollar and some change.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

Title: Certainty
Author: Laura Dave
Published: December 2026
Pages: 34
Edition: Galley
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 🖤 🖤