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2.98 AVERAGE
2.98 AVERAGE
This book is not what I expected from the blurb. First of all, be prepared to dislike the narrator intensely: "Oh, poor damaged, fragile me." Or maybe I'm just an insensitive jerk. But as the story unfolded, I realized that I didn't need to like her to enjoy the story. The twists are believable, and once I realized the narrator's voice was a deliberate part of the story, it was fun to guess what was coming next.
Long live the unreliable narrator. I knew fairly early it fairly early in the book, but it didn't spoil things at all. The Hamlet motif added a lot. Very, very well done.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Em Moore is half of the ghostwriting team T. E. Blakemore - the writing half, since she's agoraphobic. Teddy was the other half, the interviewer, the face and charm of the pseudonym. He had been Em's professor, and then became her lover, partner, and caregiver. But he dies in a car wreck halfway through Blakemore's latest project, a book about famous actor/director Garrett Malcolm. The book must be completed, so Em has to travel from Boston to Cape Cod to finish Teddy's work. She's been transcribing his tapes all along, but now it's her own voice she records asking the questions. She has Teddy's notes, but some of them are confusing, some of them seem like he was on the way to solving a mystery, but Em can't even figure out what the mystery was, much less what solution the notes are giving. This is a book where the narrator is barely a character, which actually worked in this case. Em is so passive and mousy, that you hardly realized she was the one telling the book. The main character was the story itself, multilayered and unfolding into something impossible to predict.
Linda Barnes wrote one of the seminal series with a strong female crime-solving protagonists -- which I loved. I knew that this was a standalone novel, but the voice and technique in it were even more different than I expected. The narrator is Em -- a mousy young woman who's half of a ghostwriting team. The story opens with her partner having died in a car crash and she is pressing to carry on the latest assignment involving acelebrity actor/director. The chapters alternate from transcripts of interview tapes to her telling the events to her dead partner. While I didn't anticipate the ending, it all tied together once I thought about it. It's a quick and enjoyable read.
Murder mysteries really aren’t my thing. I tried to care, but I just don’t.
DNF p. 122
DNF p. 122
Meh. Every year I try to read a mystery novel because I want to like them; I used to like them, after all. I liked Barnes' essay in Books to Die For so I gave this one a shot. I just can't get past the far-fetchedness.
This wasn't necessarily a book that kept me captivated the entire time. There were parts that were a bit slow, for me, and I wasn't entirely sure what type of outcome I should be anticipating. But the ending, well that certainly made it all worthwhile. Parts of it I completely expected and felt like I knew exactly how everything would turn out, but the last chapter showed me that I knew absolutely nothing the entire time and that the main character was a woman that was far more than what she seemed.
3.5. It didn't go the way I thought it would and I love unreliable characters but I don't think it's going to stay in my mind.
Would have given 3.5 stars if possible. Em Moore is one half of a ghost writing team. When her partner, Teddy Blake, dies in an auto accident during their work on famous actor/director Garrett Malcolm, Em is left to finish the book. Agoraphobic, mousy and young, the obstacles Em must face threaten to overwhelm her, not to mention the growing mystery surrounding Teddy's accident.
SPOILER I will admit, the book is a slow one. The final chapters took me utterly by surprise. I was kind of half paying attention, finishing what I thought was an ok read, and then things took a dramatically different turn. I enjoyed those last chapters more than the rest of the book but would have loved a few more hints as to what lay ahead. In thinking about it, Barnes was probably going for a little of the "Gone Girl" phenomenon but did not do it well enough. "Gone Girl" teased with hints and tension that kept the reader enthralled but still guessing and confused. Barnes dropped a few hints in some of Ems character inconsistencies but not enough to really register and add to the overall mystery of the story. If you are going to use the construct of the unreliable narrator, I find it has more impact if the reader is guessing along, feeling uncomfortable and questioning who to trust. A blind side at the end is fun but not as enjoyable as trying to put the pieces together as you go along. A good attempt, though, and I did enjoy the book.
SPOILER I will admit, the book is a slow one. The final chapters took me utterly by surprise. I was kind of half paying attention, finishing what I thought was an ok read, and then things took a dramatically different turn. I enjoyed those last chapters more than the rest of the book but would have loved a few more hints as to what lay ahead. In thinking about it, Barnes was probably going for a little of the "Gone Girl" phenomenon but did not do it well enough. "Gone Girl" teased with hints and tension that kept the reader enthralled but still guessing and confused. Barnes dropped a few hints in some of Ems character inconsistencies but not enough to really register and add to the overall mystery of the story. If you are going to use the construct of the unreliable narrator, I find it has more impact if the reader is guessing along, feeling uncomfortable and questioning who to trust. A blind side at the end is fun but not as enjoyable as trying to put the pieces together as you go along. A good attempt, though, and I did enjoy the book.