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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Have you ever been disappointed in a book by an author you typically love?
Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough had been on my shelf since February and I finally finished it yesterday. I have to be honest - this was almost the first book I DNF’d since I was a teenager. Between my hatred of saying I DNF’d a book, and my love for Behind Her Eyes and Cross My Heart, I kept going. I had been shocked to see the low Goodreads rating (3.28) when I started, but I totally get it now.
I am not someone deterred by the length of a book. I even seek out longer ones because I’m weird like that. But this book y’all - at 383 pages I felt like it was 100 pages too long. By the time I got to page 300 I was dying for it to hurry up and end.
The book doesn’t really get going until William, the must older husband of Keisha, ends up in a coma from an attempted murder. The cops immediately suspect Keisha, but Marcie, the other much younger wife, and her husband Jason also have motives for wanting him dead. The story is told by both Keisha and Marcie, but once Keisha is arrested it’s mostly from Marcie’s POV. Honestly, I would of been fine with it being 100% from Marcie’s POV.
My biggest complaint is the amount of superfluous scenes. There had to have been at least 10 descriptive sex scenes that served zero purpose. There’s only so many times one cares to read about the Viagra the man took to please his much younger wife...one or two was MORE than enough. Black magic/voodo is also a big part of the book. If you’ve read Behind Her Eyes you know Sarah’s book aren’t the most realistic, so I didn’t mind this element too much. I actually found it kind of interesting because I really didn’t know much about it.
The mystery itself was well done. I know the reader needed some backstory to understand the motives, but it seemed excessive in this book. Maybe it’s just because the characters were all pretty awful people? In classic Sarah Pinborough style though, the ending will leave you saying “WTF did I just read?”. I can honestly say I did not see the ending coming, so props for that.
3
Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough had been on my shelf since February and I finally finished it yesterday. I have to be honest - this was almost the first book I DNF’d since I was a teenager. Between my hatred of saying I DNF’d a book, and my love for Behind Her Eyes and Cross My Heart, I kept going. I had been shocked to see the low Goodreads rating (3.28) when I started, but I totally get it now.
I am not someone deterred by the length of a book. I even seek out longer ones because I’m weird like that. But this book y’all - at 383 pages I felt like it was 100 pages too long. By the time I got to page 300 I was dying for it to hurry up and end.
The book doesn’t really get going until William, the must older husband of Keisha, ends up in a coma from an attempted murder. The cops immediately suspect Keisha, but Marcie, the other much younger wife, and her husband Jason also have motives for wanting him dead. The story is told by both Keisha and Marcie, but once Keisha is arrested it’s mostly from Marcie’s POV. Honestly, I would of been fine with it being 100% from Marcie’s POV.
My biggest complaint is the amount of superfluous scenes. There had to have been at least 10 descriptive sex scenes that served zero purpose. There’s only so many times one cares to read about the Viagra the man took to please his much younger wife...one or two was MORE than enough. Black magic/voodo is also a big part of the book. If you’ve read Behind Her Eyes you know Sarah’s book aren’t the most realistic, so I didn’t mind this element too much. I actually found it kind of interesting because I really didn’t know much about it.
The mystery itself was well done. I know the reader needed some backstory to understand the motives, but it seemed excessive in this book. Maybe it’s just because the characters were all pretty awful people? In classic Sarah Pinborough style though, the ending will leave you saying “WTF did I just read?”. I can honestly say I did not see the ending coming, so props for that.
3
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Solid 3/5 stars. Seriously though, idk why everyone is so upset about this book. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great (especially coming off of Behind Her Eyes). The reason why this book scored lower than the original 3.5 that I wanted to give it was because honestly, it was just gross. The level of detail the scenes went into sexually or otherwise made me uncomfortable. Not because I am uncomfortable with addressing and talking about the act of sex/sexual preferences, etc. but because this just didn't seem like the right place to do it. There was also an element of Voodoo in this book that had some pretty graphic parts that honestly were gross as well. Between the excessive descriptive sex scenes and that, there were parts where I literally wanted to skip forward or actually felt queasy (and I have a very strong stomach). Anyways, overall the book combined classic psychological thriller with a who-dun-it, set in high modern society in the southern United States. There were many layers to this books and there was a lot going on in character development, plot details, etc. that I did not actually guess the ending. I wasn't wowed by my inability to guess the ending, but I still have to hand it to the author that I did not guess one of the main people to be involved. Looking back was it a cliche ending? I mean maybe, but not entirely. I thought it wrapped up pretty nicely. 3.5 stars - .5 stars as mentioned above to bring it to a nice 3 stars. Pretty easy read once you get past the middle.
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
DNF because it seemed kinda racist? And the way she decried the Black main character was really creeepy!
A thriller with lots of twists and turns, at some points getting into bizarre territory. I enjoyed this book, and definitely wanted to know what happened in the end, but found the characters were all kind of icky and unlikable. I didn't really find myself rooting for anyone, nor caring about what happened to any of them since they were just all fairly yuck. That said, it kept me entertained which is what I look for in a book. Decent read.
Thanks to #netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to #netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes