A review by corrint
Behind the Door by Mary SanGiovanni

2.0

I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to rate this book. The story is engaging, and the prose is decently written. I found myself relating to a couple of the main characters, and some of the characters had a good deal of depth, especially toward the beginning of the story.

But one of the characters who should not have been written in a sympathetic light was, and that kept pulling me out of the story. Other characters did not relate to that one in any kind of believable way.

Also, the book needs some trigger warnings, which I'll discuss in the spoilers.

Trigger warnings:

Spoiler

This book contains discussion of child molestation and child suicide.

Story-related spoilers giving more depth on the sympathetic light and on the trigger warnings:

Spoiler

A child molester who caused a young girl to commit suicide gets a redemption arc. Not only is he portrayed as almost heroic at the end, but the mother of that young girl tries to help him. Nothing about other characters' reactions to him comes across as realistic; everyone seems to accept him as basically a decent guy with a small character flaw. I could not get past that, and it pulled me out of the story time and time again.