Scan barcode
xabbeylongx's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Spoilers Ahead:
I’m going to be honest here, I was really looking forward to reading this book. I had very high hopes, thought the plot was very promising, however I felt it was a bit lacking. It was quite disappointing in some aspects, personally speaking.
I’m going to be honest here, I was really looking forward to reading this book. I had very high hopes, thought the plot was very promising, however I felt it was a bit lacking. It was quite disappointing in some aspects, personally speaking.
The story follows Libby as she receives a note on her car, and it was someone telling her that her husband, Sean, is having an affair. Having had no problems of trust or infidelity in their marriage before, she shrugged off the concerns, but as she thought about it more, the more it played on her mind. The more it played on her mind, the more distrusting she became of her husband, and the more pressure it put on their marriage.
When a second note materialises, Libby desperately wants to forget everything, but she can’t seem to let it go. In an effort to resurrect their marriage, they go on a date. They hire their usual babysitter, Sasha, to look after their daughter, Alice. Everything is going well, until they start to drink. Libby gets a little wine drunk, and the peace offering is automatically destroyed with some of the things she accuses Sean of. He leaves her to pay, and they end the night early.
Immediately when they get home, they notice something isn’t right. Sasha’s stuff is spread out, and their daughter is upstairs and in bed, but Sasha is missing. Despite being drunk, Libby goes out looking for her in her car, but with no luck. Eventually, they have to let Sasha’s parents know, and then the police also.
There are a few suspects, and a few scenarios that Libby is thinking could have happened. For one, she thinks that maybe Sasha’s boyfriend could have done it. The babysitter said they were often having problems, and he wasn’t a very nice person apparently, so that was her first guess. And then, when she found evidence of a present in Sean’s cupboard, she thinks he was having an affair with Sasha. Libby herself gets arrested, but is then released from lack of evidence. I’m not even going to lie, I can’t remember much of what happens following that - it’s been a short while since I read this book that I’m writing this (maybe it’s proof that the book didn’t really do much for me, if I can’t remember it) - but I know that eventually, they uncover that Sean’s ‘accident’ was caused by his abusive father, after her found out he was gay. His mother ended up killing Sasha because she found out about Sean’s secret, and Sean found out and didn’t want his mum to be affected, so he hid the body. Ironically, he actually had feelings for Sasha’s father all this time, and yet he buried his daughter and hid what happened to her. Obviously, he was arrested in the end, and he took the fall for his mother.
So, overall, the concept of the plot was actually very interesting. The plot twist I just wasn’t a fan of, I don’t know why. I guess because the way it was written sort of excused everything Sean did, that was the sort of impression I got. I wasn’t a fan of Sean from the get-go anyway, it was a gut feeling that he would have some underlying problem - people that are presented as perfect in books almost certainly are always far from it.
I was trying to think of what else wasn’t good for me, and the thing is, it just didn’t wow me as much as I wanted it to. I went in with high expectations. I think the pacing of the book itself was a bit mismatched, and it was almost a bit too long for what actually happened. Either that or the way it was described just wasn’t doing it for me, and because of that the book seemed to drag a little for me. It’s definitely not the plot, because as I said, that was promising, it was just the execution.
The ending itself was a bit lacklustre too. We didn’t get to hardly find out how Libby coped after finding out about her husband, and also about how Phil coped after finding out the love of his life was an instrumental part of the murder of his daughter. A lot of questions needed answering, and thats why I didn’t hate the book, but it wasn’t my favourite either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia
More...