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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
What a book! Absolutely brutal and horrific, the fear and futility of being trapped in a desperately abusive and terrifying relationship where no one believes you. Yet its hopeful about the power of healing and love too. A psychological thriller in its truest form. Gripped from the very start, I did not want to put this book down!! Jammed packed full of drama and suspense all the way through to the very surprising end!
Just couldn't get into this one enough. The writing was good, but the story seemed like it was heading toward a relatively realistic dark ending without much else going on.
Not what I'm looking for right now.
Not what I'm looking for right now.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought this was a fantastic debut novel. It's not an easy subject to write about but it was done in a very intriguing way which grips you. I wasn't too happy with the ending but aside from that it was brilliant. I will definitely read more from this author!
All those moments when I’d seen blue sky, when I’d seen that hint of freedom, I had still been in the cage.
This day in age, there are so many “romance” novels out there with a romantic interest who is gorgeous and charming, but intense and mysterious, and sensitive and vulnerable, but smotheringly possessive, just like Lee Brightman in this story. The difference is that in this story, those qualities show themselves for what they truly are: dangerous.
This novel explores the ways a master manipulator and abuser works, isolating his victim from her friends, toying with her emotions, and playing tricks designed to both unnerve her and make her think she’s going crazy. Most importantly, it shows how all of these manipulations can lead a victim to be completely reliant on the abuser and make it hard to walk away, because when it’s bad, it’s really bad, but when it’s good, it’s really good.
I’d always thought that women who stayed in bad relationships must be foolish….Walk away and don’t look back, I always thought….there was a new realization that walking away wasn’t a simple option after all. I’d tried it and made the mistake of inviting him back. Being still in love with him, the gentle, vulnerable part of him that was still inside somewhere, was only part of it: it was also the dreadful fear of what he might do if I did anything to provoke him.
Haynes has a way with telling this story with such punch-packed statements, that they hit you right in the gut. The story switches back and forth from Before to After the cataclysmic event that we know from the start lands Lee in jail. But discovering what events lead to that point are what it’s all about after all. How did we get from the fun, cheerful, confident Cathy of Before to the broken, paranoid, compulsive Cathy of After? And can we really say she is paranoid if her fears are justified and the threat is real?
Through the double narrative, we watch as Lee goes from darkly sexy to darkly dangerous, and I’ll warn you that if emotional and physical abuse, stalking, and rape are triggers for you, you should probably avoid this book. But telling the story from Cathy’s eyes both Before and After really builds the suspense in a way I haven’t seen in a while. The two Cathys are so vastly different, you’ll have a hard time reconciling that they are the same person.
I have to say too, I really REALLY enjoyed the climax / confrontation. I won’t say much, because I don’t want to give it away, but it was good…really good.
If you enjoy a good mind-screw like I do, you should definitely read this book. Just make sure you have all your doors and windows locked and that the silverware is all in its proper place.
Abusive relationships never start out that way - Cathy knows all about it. At first she and Lee were attracted to each other and she was so excited about her new beau. And his phone calls when she was at work or his entering her house to move things around were a little weird, but still nice. It isn't until she realizes he's controlling her wardrobe, checking on her car's mileage to make sure she's at the meeting she says she's at, and separating her from her friends that she starts to rebel; despite changing her locks and telling him to leave he still manages to get into her apartment and her friends take his side. Eventually he nearly kills her.
Four years later she's healthy, except for the OCD and PTSD. She's moved to London to escape him and thus far is managing - barely - the rebuild her life. Her upstairs neighbor Stuart starts to take an interest and helps her make appointments for psychological help, but then she learns that Lee has been released from prison. And she's sure someone's been following her and entering her apartment...
This is a wonderfully creepy book despite being slightly obvious. The ease with which an otherwise intelligent, confident woman gets sucked into this sort of relationship gives one pause; equally thought-provoking is the lack of strong legal assistance for these women.
ARC provided by publisher.
Four years later she's healthy, except for the OCD and PTSD. She's moved to London to escape him and thus far is managing - barely - the rebuild her life. Her upstairs neighbor Stuart starts to take an interest and helps her make appointments for psychological help, but then she learns that Lee has been released from prison. And she's sure someone's been following her and entering her apartment...
This is a wonderfully creepy book despite being slightly obvious. The ease with which an otherwise intelligent, confident woman gets sucked into this sort of relationship gives one pause; equally thought-provoking is the lack of strong legal assistance for these women.
ARC provided by publisher.
One of the most amazingly brilliant thrillers I have read in a long, long time.
This book's main page is littered with fabulous reviews talking about thrill. suspense and pace. I can only say that i missed all three of those qualities instead what i read was simply repetitive prose about how many times one person can check a lock. I think the author got tied up in mastering the symptoms of OCD and forgot about the thrill or mystery. I was all ready to see Stuart Richardon as p device of Lee's ridiculous mind but no there was no plot twist Lee just kept on being Lee and catherine just kept on checking locks. This is a long book that says very little. it needs to be placed into the darkest corner of the bookstore