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outsmartyourshelf's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Jenn & Becca have been best friends for years. Their friendship has kept them going through Becca's marriage, subsequent divorce, & life as a single mum to twins. Jenn has recently given birth to her first child, Ivy, with husband, Rick. Jenn asks Becca to watch Ivy for her whilst Jenn packs ready for a trip to the lake with her husband & baby, & drops Ivy at Becca's house. When she hasn't heard from Jenn after a couple of hours, Becca texts her & tries to call her but gets no reply. Having a strange feeling about this, Becca takes Ivy home but when she gets there the house is eerily silent. Checking the property over, Becca finally finds Jenn drowned in the bath. She pulls her out & rings 911 but when the police get there, there is nothing to be done.
At first, Becca wonders if it was a home invasion gone wrong, but the police won't tell her anything. When Rick,. Jenna's husband arrives home, they are both taken to the station for questioning. Becca is soon dismissed but Rick is kept for hours & has to return the next day for further questioning, & he is weirdly reticent to take care of Ivy, so Becca ends up keeping her for now. After being asked to collect some of Jenn's belongings from her gym locker, Becca finds a notebook & is shocked by what she reads. It seems that a year or so before her death, her friend had started to look into Rick's past, & had discovered that not only was Rick not his real name, but that he had been married twice before, & that both of his previous wives had drowned.
A few chapters into this, I foresaw two possibilities as to how this was going to pan out, & it turns out option 2 was correct. Although it wasn't difficult to work how it was going to go, I found that it kept my attention well & I felt invested enough in the two leads to want to know what happened. As for Rick, he's a complete Rick with a capital D: gaslighter, liar, conman, but is he a murderer? Although you're shouting at Jenn in your mind to just leave at the first behavioural red flags, you can kind of understand why she feels she has to stay & try to make it work. Whilst you are reading about Jenn's version of what leads up to her demise, it's always in your mind that she's running out of time - her final hours were movingly written. Overall, it's a good read but its strength is the two main characters rather than the story line.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Penzler Publishers/Scarlet, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
At first, Becca wonders if it was a home invasion gone wrong, but the police won't tell her anything. When Rick,. Jenna's husband arrives home, they are both taken to the station for questioning. Becca is soon dismissed but Rick is kept for hours & has to return the next day for further questioning, & he is weirdly reticent to take care of Ivy, so Becca ends up keeping her for now. After being asked to collect some of Jenn's belongings from her gym locker, Becca finds a notebook & is shocked by what she reads. It seems that a year or so before her death, her friend had started to look into Rick's past, & had discovered that not only was Rick not his real name, but that he had been married twice before, & that both of his previous wives had drowned.
A few chapters into this, I foresaw two possibilities as to how this was going to pan out, & it turns out option 2 was correct. Although it wasn't difficult to work how it was going to go, I found that it kept my attention well & I felt invested enough in the two leads to want to know what happened. As for Rick, he's a complete Rick with a capital D: gaslighter, liar, conman, but is he a murderer? Although you're shouting at Jenn in your mind to just leave at the first behavioural red flags, you can kind of understand why she feels she has to stay & try to make it work. Whilst you are reading about Jenn's version of what leads up to her demise, it's always in your mind that she's running out of time - her final hours were movingly written. Overall, it's a good read but its strength is the two main characters rather than the story line.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Penzler Publishers/Scarlet, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death
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