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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
This book dives into the taboo subject of domestic violence. I have not read many books that go into this much depth with how abuse can harm and change someone. There are parts of the book that you will be gripping your seat waiting to know what is going to happen next, but there are also parts of the book that kind of drag on a bit, and you feel like they could have got to the point quicker. You will be in the mind of someone with traumatic OCD sometimes the repeating can seem a lot. All in all though, this book was suspenseful, the author did a really great job, and although the subject matter at times was hard for me, I'd recommend the book to others.
Catherine Bailey still hasn't met Mr. Right, but she believed her luck might finally have turned when she met Lee Brightman. Four years later, she still hasn't recovered from the horrors she experienced at Lee's hands. Lee is serving a three year sentence after leaving her for dead and Catherine, now Cathy, is trying to make progress with each new day. Even days, odd days, cloudy days, each requires something different. Some days she can barely leave her apartment. Others, she's ok as long as she checks the doors and windows. Cathy needs to feel safe. But when Lee is released, Cathy knows that she may never feel safe again.
Whoa! INTO THE DARKEST CORNER is dark and it's twisted, but once you start, you're not going to want to put this one down.
Elizabeth Haynes's debut thriller is definitely a bit like Sleeping With the Enemy with a little twist. Cathy suffers from serious OCD and PTSD as a result of Lee's violence. Haynes alternates between Catherine at the beginning of - and through - her relationship with Lee and the three years later Cathy, making clear just how much she's changed. The girl who was once a partier with a horde of close friends becomes a loner who cringes at close contact. And as her situation worsens with Lee, it also becomes clear how much strength it's taken for her to survive the whole thing, pointing to an inevitable climactic ending that Haynes delivers 100%.
Whoa! INTO THE DARKEST CORNER is dark and it's twisted, but once you start, you're not going to want to put this one down.
Elizabeth Haynes's debut thriller is definitely a bit like Sleeping With the Enemy with a little twist. Cathy suffers from serious OCD and PTSD as a result of Lee's violence. Haynes alternates between Catherine at the beginning of - and through - her relationship with Lee and the three years later Cathy, making clear just how much she's changed. The girl who was once a partier with a horde of close friends becomes a loner who cringes at close contact. And as her situation worsens with Lee, it also becomes clear how much strength it's taken for her to survive the whole thing, pointing to an inevitable climactic ending that Haynes delivers 100%.
This was a pretty intense book dealing with obsession, stalking and domestic violence. I really liked how it was told from two different view points, one during the abuse and one years later to show the affects that the ordeal has had on the main character. Definitely an author that I will keep my eye on.
This book was a selection for my local book club and I was surprised at how quickly I was drawn into the story. Told by the same character 4 years apart, we meet Cathy (present day) as she is now and Catherine (4 years prior) as she was then. The story weaves together to show how an abusive relationship turned Catherine into Cathy - a method that really allows the reader to identify exactly how someone can be completely altered by traumatic events. We slowly learn her story as the suspense keeps us on the edge of our seat. Cleverly crafted and definitely a novel I would recommend!
If you're looking for a chilling psychological thriller, read this one. Cathy is a woman in her thirties, she manically checks her doors and windows for hours each day and as the story progresses we find out that she didn't always do that, that she had many friends, that she used to go out partying every weekend and that she was happy and an open-minded person. Also, she was Catharine back then and she lived in a different place. One day she met Lee, a good looking, charismatic man she falls in love with. He seems like a good guy but there is something about him and soon after he starts to make her question her sanity and makes her feel unsafe, until one day, he almost kills her. He is in prison now, but the damage is done. I walked with all the lights on in my apartment for days after reading this. It is a story about mental and physical abuse, about crazy sadistic people ruining other people’s lives, surviving, love and how strong humans can be. The only thing that bothered me slightly was that it was emphasised she was partying a lot and then this happened; like one implies the other. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a bit allergic to putting people in boxes and women shaming, so I presume there will be people who will think that she somehow deserved it, when it can happen to anyone really. I think this is a great novel. I read it in a heartbeat.
I simply could not put this book down, it caused me to burn my dinner and I finished reading it in one day. I was so reluctant to put it down I bought an audio version so I could keep "reading " in the gym, I was so engrossed I almost fell of the running machine,
Unlike other suspense books which feature abuse you do not feel like a perverse voyeur and you connect and even have respect for the leading character. Cathy is a victim but she can also be strong. It is dark , there were times when I had that sick in the stomach feeling . I would imagine this book could be a huge trigger and therefore although it is one of my best books of the year it is not for everyone.
I look forward to reading her next book.
Unlike other suspense books which feature abuse you do not feel like a perverse voyeur and you connect and even have respect for the leading character. Cathy is a victim but she can also be strong. It is dark , there were times when I had that sick in the stomach feeling . I would imagine this book could be a huge trigger and therefore although it is one of my best books of the year it is not for everyone.
I look forward to reading her next book.
4.5 stars
Because of the time of year, and my love of Halloween and all things scary, I have been more in the mood to read suspense/thriller books than anything else. While trying to find a good one on Amazon, I came across this gem on the top 100 best seller Kindle list. It was getting some great reviews, and a few of my Goodreads friends had enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a try.
What a fantastic thriller. It really had me creeped out at times, and I admit had me a little jumpy while I was reading it late at night. I love when I find a good suspense that can scare me like that. This book is definitely intense and captivating.
The thing about suspense/mystery novels is that it's hard to do a proper review of them without giving any of the goods away. I prefer to go into these books completely blind, having only read the synopsis. If I have even the smallest part of the story ruined for me, it ruins my entire experience. I LOVE the element of surprise and try to avoid spoilers at all costs.
That being said, I don't want to give away anything about this book. The best part of reading it was the constant suspense and the not knowing who you could trust and believe. I couldn't read it fast enough, and I admit the length of the book is the only issue I had. I loved it, but felt like sometimes things were drawn out a little too much and the book could have been shorter. I was dying to get to the end and see how everything played out, and I'm the most impatient person in the world.
A wonderful thriller for those of you that enjoy this genre. I plan to look for more books by this author in the future!
Because of the time of year, and my love of Halloween and all things scary, I have been more in the mood to read suspense/thriller books than anything else. While trying to find a good one on Amazon, I came across this gem on the top 100 best seller Kindle list. It was getting some great reviews, and a few of my Goodreads friends had enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a try.
What a fantastic thriller. It really had me creeped out at times, and I admit had me a little jumpy while I was reading it late at night. I love when I find a good suspense that can scare me like that. This book is definitely intense and captivating.
The thing about suspense/mystery novels is that it's hard to do a proper review of them without giving any of the goods away. I prefer to go into these books completely blind, having only read the synopsis. If I have even the smallest part of the story ruined for me, it ruins my entire experience. I LOVE the element of surprise and try to avoid spoilers at all costs.
That being said, I don't want to give away anything about this book. The best part of reading it was the constant suspense and the not knowing who you could trust and believe. I couldn't read it fast enough, and I admit the length of the book is the only issue I had. I loved it, but felt like sometimes things were drawn out a little too much and the book could have been shorter. I was dying to get to the end and see how everything played out, and I'm the most impatient person in the world.
A wonderful thriller for those of you that enjoy this genre. I plan to look for more books by this author in the future!
TL;DR If you start reading this book and find that it isn't for you, stop. There is no big reveal where the story shifts and might change your perspective. It just gets more graphic.
Long version, which includes spoilers: Forgive me for going straight into swearing, but WTF does this have to do with Gone Girl?? Why should I have read it if I liked Gone Girl? There are no twists in this book. There is no unreliable narrator. There is a two-faced person who is abusive, but you know that the whole time.
By the time I'd read 20% of this I knew it was a book I shouldn't be reading, for my own mental health. I checked the reviews to figure out why I was reading it and the Gone Girl comparison led me to pick it up again. I assumed someone was not as they seemed! Will Catherine have turned out to be the abuser the whole time? Will Stuart be revealed to be in cahoots with Lee?
NOPE. Because the narrator is completely reliable, as is everyone else. Lee included, because you could tell he was abusive from the second he shows up, even if Cathy couldn't. I'll grant you that Sylvia could be considered a minor twist, but, really, she's just someone who changes over time. She doesn't hide a part of her that is then revealed.
Long version, which includes spoilers: Forgive me for going straight into swearing, but WTF does this have to do with Gone Girl?? Why should I have read it if I liked Gone Girl? There are no twists in this book. There is no unreliable narrator. There is a two-faced person who is abusive, but you know that the whole time.
By the time I'd read 20% of this I knew it was a book I shouldn't be reading, for my own mental health. I checked the reviews to figure out why I was reading it and the Gone Girl comparison led me to pick it up again. I assumed someone was not as they seemed! Will Catherine have turned out to be the abuser the whole time? Will Stuart be revealed to be in cahoots with Lee?
NOPE. Because the narrator is completely reliable, as is everyone else. Lee included, because you could tell he was abusive from the second he shows up, even if Cathy couldn't. I'll grant you that Sylvia could be considered a minor twist, but, really, she's just someone who changes over time. She doesn't hide a part of her that is then revealed.
This book gave me quite an unpleasant visceral reaction all while I read it, and am not quite sure, why, as I could scarcely relate myself to the OCD or circumstances of the female protagonist, who is living in fear of her former psychopathic lover, who is about to get out of prison.
Cathy, a fast girl, falls hard for the suave Lee whose scary, violence filled profession is first kept a secret from her. Slowly she loses control of her life, and is forced to undergo a complete makeover. But things start heating up, and her obsessive disorder and panic attacks heighten when Lee 's release becomes known to her. She depends more and more on her kindly upstairs neighbour, Stuart, who almost seems a rock of support.
I love dark psychological tales, but this one stymied me. I was of course, irritated by the frequent and almost obsessive mentions of Catherine's various OCD behaviours (by the end of the book I could chant what she does from morning to night, without missing a step),but I was frightened by my response to the book - I felt increased cardiac activity, and sort of a constriction of chest, almost amounting to dyspnoea at rest, while reading the book; it was as if I myself was undergoing a mild panic attack. Finished it at almost a stretch as I didnot want this feeling of unease to persist and amplify.
Cathy, a fast girl, falls hard for the suave Lee whose scary, violence filled profession is first kept a secret from her. Slowly she loses control of her life, and is forced to undergo a complete makeover. But things start heating up, and her obsessive disorder and panic attacks heighten when Lee 's release becomes known to her. She depends more and more on her kindly upstairs neighbour, Stuart, who almost seems a rock of support.
I love dark psychological tales, but this one stymied me. I was of course, irritated by the frequent and almost obsessive mentions of Catherine's various OCD behaviours (by the end of the book I could chant what she does from morning to night, without missing a step),but I was frightened by my response to the book - I felt increased cardiac activity, and sort of a constriction of chest, almost amounting to dyspnoea at rest, while reading the book; it was as if I myself was undergoing a mild panic attack. Finished it at almost a stretch as I didnot want this feeling of unease to persist and amplify.