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vamsirk's review
3.0
The inertia of the protagonist was a tad too much for me to bear.Otherwise the book was written in an interesting way but I was disappointed in the ending.The book leaves you with an unease and somewhat unfulfilled.
sandin954's review
4.0
Usually I try to steer clear of any books with the words serial killer in the description but I am very glad I made an exception for this audio. Great psychological suspense with memorable characters this was extremely well written and the narration by Richard Matthews, with some help from Donada Peters, was top notch.
mariesreads's review
3.0
I liked the open-ended uncertainty in this thriller. Engaging and a page-turner.
joceline_foley's review
1.0
I gave up about halfway through, because I was just. so. bored. But I am considering trying to power through to the end, just because I usually love Denise Mina, and the book has such overwhelmingly good reviews. I will update when I finish (or if I finish).
slhandy45's review
5.0
So nice to read a thriller from the hapless husband's perspective after all the recent thrillers from the wives' perspectives. This one has plenty of twists and turns with a bit of subtle humor to add to the fun. A satisfying one-day summer read.
mxinky's review
5.0
Brilliant premise and writing. My favorite of Mina’s novels and I have read nearly all of them.
scorpstar77's review
5.0
I will say up-front that this was not my favorite Denise Mina book. I prefer her more straightforward mystery stories. This book is written in an interesting manner, though - it's the diary of a husband whose wife is currently in prison for murder. She is a psychiatrist, and she was accused and convicted of killing a serial killer she was treating while he was in prison. She swears she didn't do it, and her husband believes her. His diary reveals all of this thoughts - anger, confusion, changing his mind to think she did it and then back again - as he tries to discover the truth of what happened, searching for something that could set her free.
Mina sets it up as a true crime story - there is a foreword describing how she obtained the diary through perfectly legal means and has finally obtained permission to print it. This is all part of the story, of course, but it sets you up really well to believe it might be true. The best part about the story is how she really gets into the head of the husband writing the diary. It's totally believable, the ups and downs he goes through while trying to find the truth and decide what to do about it. It's very real and very human. And the ending was something I did not see coming. Well, I foresaw a part of it, but certainly not the biggest part of the twist. And I always respect an author who can do that for me, surprise me at the end.
I've read two other of Denise Mina's novels before this, and I think she is fabulous at taking a relatively ordinary paperback mystery kind of story and imbuing it with all kinds of character complexities and real human experience. She's fantastic, and I will keep reading her books!
Mina sets it up as a true crime story - there is a foreword describing how she obtained the diary through perfectly legal means and has finally obtained permission to print it. This is all part of the story, of course, but it sets you up really well to believe it might be true. The best part about the story is how she really gets into the head of the husband writing the diary. It's totally believable, the ups and downs he goes through while trying to find the truth and decide what to do about it. It's very real and very human. And the ending was something I did not see coming. Well, I foresaw a part of it, but certainly not the biggest part of the twist. And I always respect an author who can do that for me, surprise me at the end.
I've read two other of Denise Mina's novels before this, and I think she is fabulous at taking a relatively ordinary paperback mystery kind of story and imbuing it with all kinds of character complexities and real human experience. She's fantastic, and I will keep reading her books!
sireno8's review
5.0
Okay, Denise Mina is officially my favorite mystery writer. She reminds me of Ruth Rendell only more direct. This book is superb. I read almost half of it in once sitting. It's all about Deception on every level. Even Mina is decieving us by telling us this is a true story--but then again... Excellent characters, changing of loyalties, creation of mood and emotion, release of information with a totally surprising and satisfying twist near the end. Awe. Some. I. Love. This. Woman!
lizdesole's review
3.0
It was an interesting premise: a murder mystery written from the point of view of the accused's husband. The problem is that it really dragged in the beginning with tons of iterations about how much he loved and missed his wife. It goes for quite a while along this vein with a very slow reveal. Then the end gives a rush of info to make the conclusion (which was fairly obvious)happen. Had potential but really fell short for me
melaniejayne35's review
2.0
2.5 (it was ok). The book jacket made it sound much more exciting. That's all. Moving on :)