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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It took me forever to get into this. I was probably at the 80% mark when it finally pulled me in and got really good. Oh well…on to the next.
dark
mysterious
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Fairly gripping, but I wanted more of the present timeline, especially as the FMC’s change of heart towards her father seems sudden, and her affection for her husband and children (which is supposedly her driving motivation/she wants ti protect them) isn’t well developed and believable.
Original review at Charlie's blog, here: https://herewearegoing.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/reading-3-thrillers/
Sometimes having to use a rating system which allows only five stars --- no fractions, and no categories as in: A number of stars for authorial style and skill; A number of stars for content; A number of stars for packaging; And a number of stars for personal preference/peccadillo --- is frustrating; this is one of those times.
So, I'm going to use categories to help resolve the disaccord between my heart and my head on this one.
Authorial Styles and Skill: 4 Stars
There is no question that Karen Dionne accomplishes the goal of good thriller construction in this compulsively paced novel with its piecemeal reveal, past/present, psychological and imminent physical threat, powerful and interesting central characters. The voice of Helena Pelletier, the title character, is strong and deepens and grows as the story jumps from her present and her past, a past where she was born in captivity to a mother who'd been kidnapped as a child, raped, and tortured into pretending to be a wife in a wilderness where there were no other people save the sadistic, sociopathic, pedophile who enslaved her. The sense of Helena's awareness grows as she does, and, too, it evolves in the present as she tells the story of her childhood, twenty years later when her monster of a father has escaped from prison and she is certain he is coming for her. The conflict between being, living and using the parts of herself shaped by the man who raped her mother and sired Helena, and acknowledging and coping with the reality that he is a complete and utter beast, is a terrifically constructed journey for which Karen Dionne deserves all the kudos. Our repulsion builds as Helena's does, and the last third of the book one is tempted to skip pages, skim paragraphs, and hurry hurry hurry to its finish, hoping for --- well, whatever it is the particular reader will hope for. Which brings me to --
Content: 3 Stars
The subject matter of this novel is certainly a legitimate story/set-up worth exploring about the discovery of self, the ability to survive unspeakable trauma, the cost of such trauma, and a larger metaphorical commentary on what the havoc that is wrought by an alpha-male, misogynist culture where sociopaths in power terrorize their victims --- i.e. tr*mp and his gop cohorts, these white-cis-hetero men motivated by a hunger for control, full of hatred for and fear of all others not them. That said, it's almost too much. It's both too frightening and, somehow, demeaning, as in, this is too horrifying a possibility to be made fiction and so reading it seems like rubber-necking at a fatal accident where one can do nothing but watch, which one ought not.
Packaging: 3 Stars
Attractive cover design; front blurbed by Lee Child, back blurbed by 8 who's who of thriller and Oprah Book Club authors including Karin Slaughter and Jacquelyn Mitchard. The typesetting is easy to read, pages nicely spaced, quality binding. I'd have given it another star if there hadn't been SO MUCH in italics. The whole first page --- an intro to the Hans Christian Andersen, whose tale of the same name is that on which the novel is based --- is in italics. And every time we get more of the Andersen tale, more italics. To me, italics say DON'T READ ME -- SKIP AHEAD.
Personal Preference/Peccadilloes: 2 Stars (SPOILER ALERT/THIS PARAGRAPH)
I can't watch Law & Order: SVU, or movies in which children are terrorized, or read about graphic acts of violence, and this book had plenty of all the things that make me feel icky. If you want to tell me stories about vampires or fantasy tales which could never possibly happen, okay, but if you're telling me a story that is possible in the real world in which I live, I am easily turned off by evil and cruelty. I have gotten markedly more sensitive as I've aged and as the world has gotten meaner, so, maybe I ought to stop reading crime fiction and thrillers entirely. Stick with British cozies. We'll see.
And, finally, the very last section of the novel, during which daughter and criminal father struggle for victory over one another, is a bit heavy-handed on metaphor.
Hmm, those do average out to 3 stars. Maybe only having 5 stars isn't so bad after all.
Sometimes having to use a rating system which allows only five stars --- no fractions, and no categories as in: A number of stars for authorial style and skill; A number of stars for content; A number of stars for packaging; And a number of stars for personal preference/peccadillo --- is frustrating; this is one of those times.
So, I'm going to use categories to help resolve the disaccord between my heart and my head on this one.
Authorial Styles and Skill: 4 Stars
There is no question that Karen Dionne accomplishes the goal of good thriller construction in this compulsively paced novel with its piecemeal reveal, past/present, psychological and imminent physical threat, powerful and interesting central characters. The voice of Helena Pelletier, the title character, is strong and deepens and grows as the story jumps from her present and her past, a past where she was born in captivity to a mother who'd been kidnapped as a child, raped, and tortured into pretending to be a wife in a wilderness where there were no other people save the sadistic, sociopathic, pedophile who enslaved her. The sense of Helena's awareness grows as she does, and, too, it evolves in the present as she tells the story of her childhood, twenty years later when her monster of a father has escaped from prison and she is certain he is coming for her. The conflict between being, living and using the parts of herself shaped by the man who raped her mother and sired Helena, and acknowledging and coping with the reality that he is a complete and utter beast, is a terrifically constructed journey for which Karen Dionne deserves all the kudos. Our repulsion builds as Helena's does, and the last third of the book one is tempted to skip pages, skim paragraphs, and hurry hurry hurry to its finish, hoping for --- well, whatever it is the particular reader will hope for. Which brings me to --
Content: 3 Stars
The subject matter of this novel is certainly a legitimate story/set-up worth exploring about the discovery of self, the ability to survive unspeakable trauma, the cost of such trauma, and a larger metaphorical commentary on what the havoc that is wrought by an alpha-male, misogynist culture where sociopaths in power terrorize their victims --- i.e. tr*mp and his gop cohorts, these white-cis-hetero men motivated by a hunger for control, full of hatred for and fear of all others not them. That said, it's almost too much. It's both too frightening and, somehow, demeaning, as in, this is too horrifying a possibility to be made fiction and so reading it seems like rubber-necking at a fatal accident where one can do nothing but watch, which one ought not.
Packaging: 3 Stars
Attractive cover design; front blurbed by Lee Child, back blurbed by 8 who's who of thriller and Oprah Book Club authors including Karin Slaughter and Jacquelyn Mitchard. The typesetting is easy to read, pages nicely spaced, quality binding. I'd have given it another star if there hadn't been SO MUCH in italics. The whole first page --- an intro to the Hans Christian Andersen, whose tale of the same name is that on which the novel is based --- is in italics. And every time we get more of the Andersen tale, more italics. To me, italics say DON'T READ ME -- SKIP AHEAD.
Personal Preference/Peccadilloes: 2 Stars (SPOILER ALERT/THIS PARAGRAPH)
I can't watch Law & Order: SVU, or movies in which children are terrorized, or read about graphic acts of violence, and this book had plenty of all the things that make me feel icky. If you want to tell me stories about vampires or fantasy tales which could never possibly happen, okay, but if you're telling me a story that is possible in the real world in which I live, I am easily turned off by evil and cruelty. I have gotten markedly more sensitive as I've aged and as the world has gotten meaner, so, maybe I ought to stop reading crime fiction and thrillers entirely. Stick with British cozies. We'll see.
And, finally, the very last section of the novel, during which daughter and criminal father struggle for victory over one another, is a bit heavy-handed on metaphor.
Hmm, those do average out to 3 stars. Maybe only having 5 stars isn't so bad after all.
Intriguing novel. Outstanding writing. Conflict within the main character is presented in a very believable manner. Highly recommend.
Super good! This author did an excellent job with each character. I was on the edge of my seat numerous times!
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” (famous Native American proverb)
“… my father may be the reason I exist, but my mother is the reason I’m alive.”
“… my father may be the reason I exist, but my mother is the reason I’m alive.”
I’m late to the game with this one but now I see what all the fuss was about. A very gripping story that leaves you a little breathless by the racing finish. I really got lost in their wooded world & tho it was a creepy story it kept me interested from the first page to the last.