Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
Movie was actually better than the book. This was bad, sorry Darcey. I think the comedic slant the movie gave this story really was for the best.
It starts with a simple favour - sophisticated PR executive, Emily, asks her best friend Stephanie to pick up her son from school. Stephanie is a widow and stay-at-home mummy blogger - the two could not be more different. When Stephanie picks up Emily’s son from school, she’s expecting to just watch him for the night. But, Emily never returns. This book follows the mystery of what happened to Emily, the twists of who is involved in her disappearance... it’s a dark and thrilling novel that I loved, and the film production is just as good. A great modern tale of friendship, love, and proving that not everyone is who they say they are.
firstly i want to say i read this as an audiobook and i would recommend that a lot as it made the reading experience better, i feel like i wouldn’t have liked it as a kid physically book.
I initially read this so that i’d watch the movie, but when i finished it and went to watch the movie the movie was too fast paced and gave us no attachment to the characters like the book did. i stopped watching the movie 30 mins in when something that had happened half to mid way in the book already started happening.
The book to me did a very good job at pulling the reader in, it was slow paced in a sense in the beginning but the mystery was well worth it. When the big part of the book starts that when it’s gripping page to page. I’m happy i read the book and not watched the movie only because i appreciated the story a lot. Emily and Stephenie were amazing characters to hear from. All the plot twists were not the usual ones i would have thought there would have been, and i loved all of them.
I initially read this so that i’d watch the movie, but when i finished it and went to watch the movie the movie was too fast paced and gave us no attachment to the characters like the book did. i stopped watching the movie 30 mins in when something that had happened half to mid way in the book already started happening.
The book to me did a very good job at pulling the reader in, it was slow paced in a sense in the beginning but the mystery was well worth it. When the big part of the book starts that when it’s gripping page to page. I’m happy i read the book and not watched the movie only because i appreciated the story a lot. Emily and Stephenie were amazing characters to hear from. All the plot twists were not the usual ones i would have thought there would have been, and i loved all of them.
This was a messy good time and so was the movie and I liked them both.
It was kind of a Gone Girl-esque experience. I wouldn't say it's as tight as the GG plot, but it was still a fun ride and it was just what I needed after trudging through a streak of meh and disappointing reads.
Everyone in this book is a trash human and I was into it. Dunno what that says about me but whatevs.
Everyone in this book is a trash human and I was into it. Dunno what that says about me but whatevs.
There were constant twists and turns and as soon as you thought you’d worked out what was going to happen, a new twist came into play. The multiple unreliable narrators kept your mind working and I found it to be so clever the way you learned about different stories and how they’d been twisted to suit the motives of whoever what telling it. It was a really cool insight into the characters, even more so with Stephanie’s blog as you initially saw what she wanted to present to the world, and then what she wanted to present to the reader (occasionally withholding information even then). Typically, with a book full of unlikable characters, it’s difficult to make it through, but this was so compelling I couldn’t stop and they were all incredibly intriguing. Stephanie wasn’t too bad (though so so gullible at times, I thought she had to be faking it!) and my heart went out to her at the end. I hope everything turned out well for her. I had seen the film prior but continually felt on edge and was surprised by what happened because although it followed the same beats, significant differences made it still enjoyable and not a reiteration of an equally good (if not better) counterpart. There were multiple moments I was thoroughly creeped out (when Emily heard the whistling, when she was watching Stephanie, when they found Mr Prager in the car, when Stephanie was talking to Mrs Nelson) and I thought they were really effective. All in all, a great book in my opinion (I would also recommend listening to the soundtrack of the film along with it - particularly the French songs).
I think I've found one of the extremely rare cases when the book is worse than the movie.
First of all, I very rarely DNF books, or drop them. They have to be especially bad for me to even consider it. Second of all, it's even more rare for me to give something a one-star review; most books I give four or five if I found myself enjoying it. I didn't enjoy anything about what I read here.
The movie was an interesting, compelling watch that was equal parts dark comedy and thriller. I enjoy both of those things, so I really enjoyed it, and wanted to pick up the original source material.
There was absolutely nothing funny about this book.
The tone was completely different, being told largely from Stephanie's first-person view, with other viewpoints coming in later. The beginning is largely just posts from her mommy-blog, which are painful to read in their own.
Stephanie's character is aggravating for a number of reasons, but I think the worst and most jarring thing about her is her sex drive. It's uncomfortable, and jarring to the point that it's distracting.
The fact that she had an incestuous relationship with her brother is a key plot point, but the book REALLY wants you to know just how into her brother she was. And her libido doesn't stop there; she's also head over heels for her missing Bestie's husband. The descriptions of how much she "needed" these man made me outright cringe in disgust.
Aside from Steph, every other character was flat as cardboard. Completely one-dimensional. The writing style was also just impossible for me to sink into; the style in the beginning of it being nothing but blog posts was awful.
Skip this book and watch the movie.
First of all, I very rarely DNF books, or drop them. They have to be especially bad for me to even consider it. Second of all, it's even more rare for me to give something a one-star review; most books I give four or five if I found myself enjoying it. I didn't enjoy anything about what I read here.
The movie was an interesting, compelling watch that was equal parts dark comedy and thriller. I enjoy both of those things, so I really enjoyed it, and wanted to pick up the original source material.
There was absolutely nothing funny about this book.
The tone was completely different, being told largely from Stephanie's first-person view, with other viewpoints coming in later. The beginning is largely just posts from her mommy-blog, which are painful to read in their own.
Stephanie's character is aggravating for a number of reasons, but I think the worst and most jarring thing about her is her sex drive. It's uncomfortable, and jarring to the point that it's distracting.
The fact that she had an incestuous relationship with her brother is a key plot point, but the book REALLY wants you to know just how into her brother she was. And her libido doesn't stop there; she's also head over heels for her missing Bestie's husband. The descriptions of how much she "needed" these man made me outright cringe in disgust.
Aside from Steph, every other character was flat as cardboard. Completely one-dimensional. The writing style was also just impossible for me to sink into; the style in the beginning of it being nothing but blog posts was awful.
Skip this book and watch the movie.
I really enjoyed this book, I devoured it! Once I got into it, I didn't want to put it down.
About to DNF this book, it’s so boring. Read it because I saw the movie which is all suspense and action. This read via blog format is so uninteresting.
DNFed after being a quarter over the way through. I can’t
DNFed after being a quarter over the way through. I can’t
So glad I held off on seeing the movie to read this first! So many twists and turns! It was fantastic
Pretty sure this can be classified as fetish porn, which, I mean, if that's your thing. . . go for it. Wasn't impressed with the writing, plot, or characters and found myself cringing through most of it. Heard the movie is good, so I might check that out.