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bookph1le's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This is the second Lisa Unger novel I've read, and I really like her style. There's a darkness and bleakness to her books that feels authentic, and her characters are complex and flawed, her books meticulous and careful in their details. Unlike a lot of the mass market thrillers I've read, her books have substance to them. She doesn't traffic in plot contrivances that feel like contrivances; instead, what happens in her books seems to rise organically from the characters and their motivations.
My big gripe about this book is that it's strangely structured. She switches perspectives a lot, but sometimes it's really hard to tell who's talking until you're a paragraph or two into a new chapter or into the new portion following the chapter break. I find this especially strange when she switches from one character to another in the space of a single chapter. Why not start a new chapter, make the transition from character to character obvious? It's not that her characters are hard to distinguish; they felt to me like they had distinct characteristics. It's that chapters and the sentences after chapter breaks are often generic, posting some big picture observation, and that makes it hard to figure out who's speaking until the person's name is mentioned a couple paragraphs in. Instead of leading with something like "she wondered about..." why not start off with "Linda wondered about..." and make it clear whose perspective we're reading?
I also occasionally got impatient with the structure because characters would suddenly leap back into the past at what seemed like inopportune moments, and while I don't feel the plot was contrived, per se, being catapulted back into the past just as something crucial was about to happen did sometimes feel contrived. And while I was invested in the characters and their stories, there were times when the plot seemed to meander and I wished they'd quit waxing poetic and get back to the matter at hand.
Still, all in all, I enjoyed this book. I enjoy that all of Unger's characters are flawed, that they sometimes do stupid things but have feasible reasons for doing those stupid things. I especially like her female characters because they feel so real. So many thriller authors stick to tropes for female characters, making them unreliable drunks or damaged goods, but Unger builds a lot of nuances into her characters and makes them distinct without falling back on those well-worn tropes. I can't say how much I appreciate that. Both Linda and Isabel have rough edges, but these feel like the kinds of rough edges human beings have, not the kind writers append to female characters to follow the trend of using unreliable and/or problematic female characters. That she's a female author probably contributes to her ability to avoid making her female characters stereotypical, but more importantly, she treats all her characters like human beings instead of types. I wish a lot of other authors did the same.
This definitely won't be my last Unger book.
This is the second Lisa Unger novel I've read, and I really like her style. There's a darkness and bleakness to her books that feels authentic, and her characters are complex and flawed, her books meticulous and careful in their details. Unlike a lot of the mass market thrillers I've read, her books have substance to them. She doesn't traffic in plot contrivances that feel like contrivances; instead, what happens in her books seems to rise organically from the characters and their motivations.
My big gripe about this book is that it's strangely structured. She switches perspectives a lot, but sometimes it's really hard to tell who's talking until you're a paragraph or two into a new chapter or into the new portion following the chapter break. I find this especially strange when she switches from one character to another in the space of a single chapter. Why not start a new chapter, make the transition from character to character obvious? It's not that her characters are hard to distinguish; they felt to me like they had distinct characteristics. It's that chapters and the sentences after chapter breaks are often generic, posting some big picture observation, and that makes it hard to figure out who's speaking until the person's name is mentioned a couple paragraphs in. Instead of leading with something like "she wondered about..." why not start off with "Linda wondered about..." and make it clear whose perspective we're reading?
I also occasionally got impatient with the structure because characters would suddenly leap back into the past at what seemed like inopportune moments, and while I don't feel the plot was contrived, per se, being catapulted back into the past just as something crucial was about to happen did sometimes feel contrived. And while I was invested in the characters and their stories, there were times when the plot seemed to meander and I wished they'd quit waxing poetic and get back to the matter at hand.
Still, all in all, I enjoyed this book. I enjoy that all of Unger's characters are flawed, that they sometimes do stupid things but have feasible reasons for doing those stupid things. I especially like her female characters because they feel so real. So many thriller authors stick to tropes for female characters, making them unreliable drunks or damaged goods, but Unger builds a lot of nuances into her characters and makes them distinct without falling back on those well-worn tropes. I can't say how much I appreciate that. Both Linda and Isabel have rough edges, but these feel like the kinds of rough edges human beings have, not the kind writers append to female characters to follow the trend of using unreliable and/or problematic female characters. That she's a female author probably contributes to her ability to avoid making her female characters stereotypical, but more importantly, she treats all her characters like human beings instead of types. I wish a lot of other authors did the same.
This definitely won't be my last Unger book.
jaimel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
rmarcin's review against another edition
3.0
At the beginning, very interesting and exciting, with a lot of mystery/intrigue, but then it became very unlikely and completely far fetched.
beastreader's review against another edition
3.0
Isabel Raine has a really good life. She has a good career and a wonderful husband. Isabel and Marcus have been married for five years. They have gone through a lot together, including a miscarriage.
Marcus leaves for work. As he goes, he tells Isabel "Thanks for being the most beautiful thing I'll see all day". It is late at night and Marcus is not home yet. Isabel calls both his cell and his work but no one has seen or heard from Marcus. Marcus has now been missing for hours, when her phone rings. The connection is bad but it sounds like Marcus's voice. Suddenly Isabel hears a man scream and the call is lost.
Isabel calls the authorities but they aren't interested. Isabel decides to investigate herself into the disappearance of her husband. All she gets for her troubles is knocked unconscious. She awakes in a hospital bed and a Detective Grady Crowe asking her questions about Marcus.
Come take a ride as Isabel races to the country Prague to find the man she thought was her husband.
What I love so much about the suspense/thriller genre is the adrenaline rush I get from read these types of books. I enjoy seeing what places an author can take me. Die for You did have the excitement. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of a rush to keep me going all the way through till the end. Though I did like that the storyline took me to another country.
The plot was definitely a good one but I couldn't really find a connection with the characters. Some times this happens but luckily; all the things I did like about Die for You does make me want to try some of Lisa Unger's previous novels.
Marcus leaves for work. As he goes, he tells Isabel "Thanks for being the most beautiful thing I'll see all day". It is late at night and Marcus is not home yet. Isabel calls both his cell and his work but no one has seen or heard from Marcus. Marcus has now been missing for hours, when her phone rings. The connection is bad but it sounds like Marcus's voice. Suddenly Isabel hears a man scream and the call is lost.
Isabel calls the authorities but they aren't interested. Isabel decides to investigate herself into the disappearance of her husband. All she gets for her troubles is knocked unconscious. She awakes in a hospital bed and a Detective Grady Crowe asking her questions about Marcus.
Come take a ride as Isabel races to the country Prague to find the man she thought was her husband.
What I love so much about the suspense/thriller genre is the adrenaline rush I get from read these types of books. I enjoy seeing what places an author can take me. Die for You did have the excitement. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of a rush to keep me going all the way through till the end. Though I did like that the storyline took me to another country.
The plot was definitely a good one but I couldn't really find a connection with the characters. Some times this happens but luckily; all the things I did like about Die for You does make me want to try some of Lisa Unger's previous novels.
lizella's review against another edition
3.0
I would consider this my first "summer read" for the year. I got what I was looking for - a fast-paced quick read full of high drama and intrigue. The story follows a successful writer named Isabel whose world starts to unravel after the disappearance of her husband Marcus. She learns that he is not the person he claimed to be and has betrayed and her family on countless levels.
The book's narration switches between a handful of the main characters, keeping the reader guessing how the story will unfold. I probably would have preferred less time spent on the detective and bit more from "Marcus's" perspective to build the tension between the life he had created with Isabel and the ruthless manipulator within. I also thought the subplot involving Isabel's sister got a little too crazy at the end and seemed a bit unnecessary considering all the other action in the book.
This book delivers both on the promises of the book blurb and of the thriller genre.
The book's narration switches between a handful of the main characters, keeping the reader guessing how the story will unfold. I probably would have preferred less time spent on the detective and bit more from "Marcus's" perspective to build the tension between the life he had created with Isabel and the ruthless manipulator within. I also thought the subplot involving Isabel's sister got a little too crazy at the end and seemed a bit unnecessary considering all the other action in the book.
This book delivers both on the promises of the book blurb and of the thriller genre.
books4biana's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting tale of a deception that shook our character's entire world...and what she did about it. I'm not giving the full stars simply because the ending was a little too Hollywood.
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book made me really cement the understanding that I like thrillers that keep things close to home. I feel like a really well-crafted mystery/thriller makes everything happen in a tight little environment, which brings such tension. You know that the answer is right in front of you in this small set of possibilities, but you can't quite figure it out. When you start bringing in international travel and foreign gang-ish groups and the environment gets much bigger, then you lose the tension of The Known being the answer. At that point, it could really be anyone or anything that hasn't yet walked into the plot. In listening to just a few minutes of this, my partner asked why it mentioned stained clothes so many times lol. I thought that the idea of the MC being an author felt really overplayed. Like yes, she may analyze stuff and be observant because she's a writer, but she could also just be those things? Like she doesn't need a reason. She also got into that Not-Like-Other-Girls persona when she ~refused to play by the rules~ and ~is really stubborn and tough~ and that's just tiring. Not my fav. Also! The sister just gets away with her infidelity? Like the hell happened there? That guy went from 0 to 100 overnight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Stalking
Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Alcohol, Miscarriage, and Sexual content
k_cavacini's review against another edition
4.0
This was another fast paced, exciting read by Lisa Unger. I find myself completely engrossed in her books, thinking about them during the day, wanting to keep reading far later than I should just to find out what happens next. I enjoyed seeing the unfolding story from multiple perspectives and, like her other books, I find all of Lisa Unger's characters complicated and interesting. The only reason that I didn't give the book 5 stars was because I felt like there wasn't much to the mystery; Die for You is still an exciting book if not a very suspenseful book.
marlynb's review against another edition
4.0
I believe I requested this book because it was mentioned on DorothyL and thought it sounded interesting. And it was interesting, though only in the manner of an assumed identity thriller. It's the story of Isabel Connelly Raine, whose husband Marcus leaves for work one day and never returns. Isabel goes to his office the next day to talk to his business partner, who has not heard from him either. While checking Marcus' desk, she is interrupted by a raid. The group are wearing jackets with FBI on them, but they turn out to be fake. One of them, clubs her over the head and she wakes up in hospital.
When the police inform her that the real Marcus Raine died several years earlier and her husband was an impostor, Isabel takes matters into her own hands to find the truth.
As I said, a fairly typical thriller plot.
What is really wonderful about this book is the prose. Unger comes up with some incredible descriptions of the characters' feelings and thought processes. A description of a feeling Isabel had after her father committed suicide when she was a child:
"It was a strange lightness, a drifting feeling. Zero gravity. I understood that everything that once seemed solid and immovable might just float away.
This book was a real pleasure to read!
When the police inform her that the real Marcus Raine died several years earlier and her husband was an impostor, Isabel takes matters into her own hands to find the truth.
As I said, a fairly typical thriller plot.
What is really wonderful about this book is the prose. Unger comes up with some incredible descriptions of the characters' feelings and thought processes. A description of a feeling Isabel had after her father committed suicide when she was a child:
"It was a strange lightness, a drifting feeling. Zero gravity. I understood that everything that once seemed solid and immovable might just float away.
This book was a real pleasure to read!