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realhousewifeofthelibrary's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
abbyweber's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I’ll give this 2.5 stars. This is another example of the audiobook narrator ruining it a bit for me, but the story was also pretty ho hum. It could have been really good, but for the love, can we please stop using inaccurate portrayals of mental illness as a plot device? I don’t want to add any spoilers, but this one was overall a miss for me.
eri_cat93's review
3.0
I liked this book. I didn’t love it, I wasn’t obsessed with it, but I enjoyed it a lot. The story telling is compelling & the mystery of it pulls you in. However - I didn’t find the twist all that surprising, it felt figured out by maybe 1/3 of the way through and like so many thrillers it was rushed at the very end to fit in the twist, reveal the true nature of the villain, & conveniently wrap up an extreme mental health crisis in a quick epilogue.
bookph1le's review against another edition
2.0
Kubica and other mass market thriller writers are not for me. There's a sameness to them that works if you want to know what you're going to get out of a book. That doesn't work for me, because when I read I'm always looking for something that feels fresh or innovative or insightful. Fair warning, this review is going to contain considerable spoilers, so read beyond the tags at your own risk.
The other thing I really dislike about Kubica's books is her female characters read as so wrong to me. I think she's trying to do the messy, complicated female character thing that other authors pull off with far more success, but instead her characters come across as weird. I completely get how, as a mother desperate to protect her child, Sadie could go to some eyebrow-raising lengths, but I didn't know her well enough or feel attached to her enough before she started engaging in all kinds of wacky behavior. I could never root for her because the whole time I was thinking about how what she was doing made no sense. She's one of those characters who keeps telling people they have to believe her, she's telling the truth, she's completely stable when it's blatantly obvious that none of the above are true. I actively dislike Kubica's characters, and while I read plenty a book with characters I dislike and yet still root for or at least want to see what happens to, I never feel that way about Kubica's books. Her characters are just straight up off-putting to me.
The whole subplot with Otto (who names their kid Otto in this day and age--I digress) left me cold. Sadie talks a lot about how close she and her son once were and how alienated she now feels from him, but that's all the book did: it told me this. I didn't for a minute buy into their relationship. In fact, I didn't buy into Sadie's relationship with anyone because I never once got to see her actually interact with anyone on anything more than a superficial level. Otto's subplot exists just to be a red herring, and that's disappointing. It does a disservice to the character and to the concept of what he's been through.
I will give the book credit in that the twist took it beyond where I thought it was going. But even that fell flat. It came too late in the book and having Will's perspective suddenly thrust into the narrative did nothing for me. I think it would have been a LOT more interesting had Kubica not tried to hide Sadie's condition and use it as a twist, but rather from the get-go make it a plot point. This would have given her space to develop Will's gaslighting of Sadie, and I also think it would have cast Sadie in a different, more sympathetic light. This would have made for a much more interesting novel.
Lastly, I wasn't a fan of the way Imogen was basically a deus ex machina. She hates Sadie throughout the book, to the extent of wishing she were dead, then comes out of nowhere to save Sadie. I'm not sure what Kubica was trying to do with this. It's not that I object to the idea of Imogen drawing the line at letting Will kill his wife, it's that suddenly Sadie's and Imogen's relationship does a complete 180 degree turn. In my opinion, it would have made more sense to have Otto save his mother.
This is where Kubica and I part ways.
Spoiler
Once again, here is a book that trots out some tired tropes about mental health and those who suffer from mental health issues. I get the sense that this book was trying to do something different, not just because of the afterward in which Kubica tries to address the mental health care crisis in America, but also due to the novel's tone. Were she a more skilled writer, this might have worked, but here the end result leaves me feeling like Sadie's illness was there for cheap thrills. Like so many other generic thrillers before it, I knew *exactly* where this book was going long before we got there, and I was extremely annoyed at the knowledge that Sadie and Camille were not two different people, though I do admit I thought Mouse was Morgan's step daughter and not another of Sadie's dissociative personalities.The other thing I really dislike about Kubica's books is her female characters read as so wrong to me. I think she's trying to do the messy, complicated female character thing that other authors pull off with far more success, but instead her characters come across as weird. I completely get how, as a mother desperate to protect her child, Sadie could go to some eyebrow-raising lengths, but I didn't know her well enough or feel attached to her enough before she started engaging in all kinds of wacky behavior. I could never root for her because the whole time I was thinking about how what she was doing made no sense. She's one of those characters who keeps telling people they have to believe her, she's telling the truth, she's completely stable when it's blatantly obvious that none of the above are true. I actively dislike Kubica's characters, and while I read plenty a book with characters I dislike and yet still root for or at least want to see what happens to, I never feel that way about Kubica's books. Her characters are just straight up off-putting to me.
The whole subplot with Otto (who names their kid Otto in this day and age--I digress) left me cold. Sadie talks a lot about how close she and her son once were and how alienated she now feels from him, but that's all the book did: it told me this. I didn't for a minute buy into their relationship. In fact, I didn't buy into Sadie's relationship with anyone because I never once got to see her actually interact with anyone on anything more than a superficial level. Otto's subplot exists just to be a red herring, and that's disappointing. It does a disservice to the character and to the concept of what he's been through.
I will give the book credit in that the twist took it beyond where I thought it was going. But even that fell flat. It came too late in the book and having Will's perspective suddenly thrust into the narrative did nothing for me. I think it would have been a LOT more interesting had Kubica not tried to hide Sadie's condition and use it as a twist, but rather from the get-go make it a plot point. This would have given her space to develop Will's gaslighting of Sadie, and I also think it would have cast Sadie in a different, more sympathetic light. This would have made for a much more interesting novel.
Lastly, I wasn't a fan of the way Imogen was basically a deus ex machina. She hates Sadie throughout the book, to the extent of wishing she were dead, then comes out of nowhere to save Sadie. I'm not sure what Kubica was trying to do with this. It's not that I object to the idea of Imogen drawing the line at letting Will kill his wife, it's that suddenly Sadie's and Imogen's relationship does a complete 180 degree turn. In my opinion, it would have made more sense to have Otto save his mother.
This is where Kubica and I part ways.
princessjj14's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tetapep's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Average. A bit predictable, but overall an OK read. I've enjoyed this authors other books more.