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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
⬗ AUDIO REVIEW BITS & BYTES ⬗
- suspense thriller
- cold case murder mystery
- coming home
- unanswered questions, lies, & betrayals
- This is one from her backlog and probably not as compelling as her current material.
- I didn’t guess the ending but I wasn’t trying to, either…like I didn’t quite care enough to try???
- NARRATION: Christina Traister’s narration was just okay for me.
⬗ My Score 6.23/10 ⬗
Love her books! Late to the office today - had to finish.
Do you ever really know your spouse? What if you find out that their life up until you met them was all a lie they told you? Would you stand by your man or work to put him away?
These are just some of the questions Sarah Quinlan ends up asking herself as she accompanies her husband, Jack, back to Penny Gate, Iowa at the news that his aunt has had a near fatal fall. Thinking Jack's parents had died in a car accident, Sarah walks into a family dynamic that has an underlying nature of secrets, lies, and murder.
This was a great book. Grabbed me right away and made me wish I'd skipped work to continue reading. Don't worry, I went to work. This book also made me itch to do something I rarely do, skip to the end to figure it out. Turns out I had it figured out but it was a fun ride to get there.
Loved this book and look forward to reading some of Gudenkauf's earlier books while I wait for her next.
These are just some of the questions Sarah Quinlan ends up asking herself as she accompanies her husband, Jack, back to Penny Gate, Iowa at the news that his aunt has had a near fatal fall. Thinking Jack's parents had died in a car accident, Sarah walks into a family dynamic that has an underlying nature of secrets, lies, and murder.
This was a great book. Grabbed me right away and made me wish I'd skipped work to continue reading. Don't worry, I went to work. This book also made me itch to do something I rarely do, skip to the end to figure it out. Turns out I had it figured out but it was a fun ride to get there.
Loved this book and look forward to reading some of Gudenkauf's earlier books while I wait for her next.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sometimes you're just in the mood for a good ol' thriller. I read this in one sitting before bed, and it kept me turning the pages to figure out what the heck was going on/once went on in Penny Gate and to see the secrets (and truth) unravel.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
This is one of those books that I had no clue what was coming! It is an enthralling mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. Gudenkauf creates a tension between husband and wife, Sarah and Jack, that keep the reader wondering who to trust. I thought it was well-written and suspenseful. Another Gudenkauf title!
This book was a hot mess. It was a bit all over the place. I never really connected with any of the characters, not even in an "oh my God, I hate this person so much," way. I felt that the plot kind of drifted all over the place, into various possibilities. I thought that Jack and Sarah's relationship wasn't really fleshed out at all. I didn't feel like I was reading about a couple who'd been married 20+ years with two children, even though that was stated a number of times. In fact, I didn't really feel like I was reading from the point of view of a 40-something women. Her actions and thought processes seemed to be more similar to that of an early 20-something woman. Maybe the story would've worked better that way.
I found Sarah to be a complete nitwit. I could not understand her thought processes at all. Starting with the weird emails. She gets a strange email and is SO quick to just discard it, because she gets them all the time. She doesn't even bother saving it, but deletes it. She even mentions the emails to her editor who confirms that it isn't a big deal, because she gets those all the time. How many weird emails does this woman get? You'd think she would save the weird ones in a folder or something just case. But I digress. She is so quick to become suspicious and turn on her husband without even really talking to him. Once she finds out he wasn't completely honest about the circumstances of his parents deaths, she gives up on him. Screw their 20+ years of marriage, any trust she has flies out the window. What? She is literally run off the road by someone, but she figures it's probably just a drunk driver or something. What? Her husband's aunt who raised him in his teenage years dies and she really seems to show no emotion and is more concerned with investigating Lydia's death. The end is so hastily thrown together. So Celia killed Lydia because she was having an affair with John, but she still loved Jack? What? And was it ever explained how Celia knew Sarah was Dear Astrid? Sarah makes a big deal of the fact that only a few people know she is the columnist. Throughout the story, I kept wondering how Sarah could be so stupid and make such stupid choices for a supposed intelligent woman. I didn't understand her thought processes at all. I didn't understand why she was so willing to believe that her husband was a murderer who killed his mother and his aunt, just because he lied to her about his parents deaths and that he dated his cousin's wife in high school.
I was disappointed in this book, as I have enjoyed her other novels. I feel like this could've been better. I felt none of the characters were well developed or well written. The whole plot was a bit all over the place. I did notice a few errors, for instance in one case Celia's name was written in place of Amy's. There were other various mistakes I noticed as well. I feel like this novel could've been edited better.
I do want to read her next novel, hopefully she it'll be much better.
Spoiler
I found Sarah to be a complete nitwit. I could not understand her thought processes at all. Starting with the weird emails. She gets a strange email and is SO quick to just discard it, because she gets them all the time. She doesn't even bother saving it, but deletes it. She even mentions the emails to her editor who confirms that it isn't a big deal, because she gets those all the time. How many weird emails does this woman get? You'd think she would save the weird ones in a folder or something just case. But I digress. She is so quick to become suspicious and turn on her husband without even really talking to him. Once she finds out he wasn't completely honest about the circumstances of his parents deaths, she gives up on him. Screw their 20+ years of marriage, any trust she has flies out the window. What? She is literally run off the road by someone, but she figures it's probably just a drunk driver or something. What? Her husband's aunt who raised him in his teenage years dies and she really seems to show no emotion and is more concerned with investigating Lydia's death. The end is so hastily thrown together. So Celia killed Lydia because she was having an affair with John, but she still loved Jack? What? And was it ever explained how Celia knew Sarah was Dear Astrid? Sarah makes a big deal of the fact that only a few people know she is the columnist. Throughout the story, I kept wondering how Sarah could be so stupid and make such stupid choices for a supposed intelligent woman. I didn't understand her thought processes at all. I didn't understand why she was so willing to believe that her husband was a murderer who killed his mother and his aunt, just because he lied to her about his parents deaths and that he dated his cousin's wife in high school.
I was disappointed in this book, as I have enjoyed her other novels. I feel like this could've been better. I felt none of the characters were well developed or well written. The whole plot was a bit all over the place. I did notice a few errors, for instance in one case Celia's name was written in place of Amy's. There were other various mistakes I noticed as well. I feel like this novel could've been edited better.
I do want to read her next novel, hopefully she it'll be much better.
mysterious
medium-paced