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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Cons: not super twisty and too many POV characters
Pros: strong and well developed female characters, a steadily building pace, and suspense.
Pros: strong and well developed female characters, a steadily building pace, and suspense.
First, I’d say the style and structure of this book feel very solid- 4 stars, in those regards. The problem is that the story itself ends up being weak, so this whole multiple viewpoints fitting into one another- it adds up to a pretty disappointing conclusion you reach 70 pages before the characters do. It’s not that complicated, it’s not as epic or complex as it’s set up to be, some of the characters feel superfluous, and the way it’s solved is by people discussing the most basic crap- like, the best analogy I can give is that in the book there’s a character who’s a seer- and then that trait is never really utilized. That’s the book- it’s set up to be more cool and complicated than it actually is, and as that’s revealed you end up very frustrated. You could see this conclusion coming ‘round the bend from a mile away, the depth of the characters often feels artificial- so while I was intrigued for 2/3rds of the book you get a sinking feeling it’s just gonna end up ultra shallow, and bingo, the story falls off a cliff.
Apologies for those puns, but ya- not a good page turner imo.
Apologies for those puns, but ya- not a good page turner imo.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Better than Girl on the Train but still farfetched. A common theme running through her books seem to be men who take no responsibility for their actions. It's never their fault. It's a timely story that reminds us of the male dominent world we live in and how little things have changed.
I seriously do not understand how some people did not like this book! Granted, it only fits into the above average psychological thriller/small town murder mystery but it was engaging.
Yes, you could see the conclusion before it really wrapped up. Yes, it was fairly predictable. But it had a lot of great things going for it. First, I loved the various viewpoints of the different characters. I appreciate this approach. Keeps you accountable to the story, makes you pay attention more, comprehend more not just zombified through a beach read. I also highly appreciate the vast difference between this and her previous best seller Girl On A Train. If you are expecting to read a similar follow up, you will be out of luck.
I liked that the redeemable qualities in all the different characters. I loved not liking them until they had to face the truth and handle hard situations. Then they became real and likable. Overall, it was not excellent but it was pretty good. Ms. Hawkins is a phenomenal writer for this genre. I am glad to see she steered away from the typical psychological thriller novel template and the a little spin on history into her novel. Great job.
Yes, you could see the conclusion before it really wrapped up. Yes, it was fairly predictable. But it had a lot of great things going for it. First, I loved the various viewpoints of the different characters. I appreciate this approach. Keeps you accountable to the story, makes you pay attention more, comprehend more not just zombified through a beach read. I also highly appreciate the vast difference between this and her previous best seller Girl On A Train. If you are expecting to read a similar follow up, you will be out of luck.
I liked that the redeemable qualities in all the different characters. I loved not liking them until they had to face the truth and handle hard situations. Then they became real and likable. Overall, it was not excellent but it was pretty good. Ms. Hawkins is a phenomenal writer for this genre. I am glad to see she steered away from the typical psychological thriller novel template and the a little spin on history into her novel. Great job.
Meh...Enjoyable. I feel like I got a good sense of the small village through its many members. And, it kept me hooked throughout the book. I didn't love it, though. It would be good weekend vacation read.
Took me a while to get through... lots of view points with the two storylines was a little all over the place.
I'm giving it 3 stars but it's more of a 2.5.
Don't expect it to be anything like The Girl on the Train.
The constant switching of perspectives would be interesting if there weren't so many characters. Too many characters. Some who are poorly defined, so it's easy to confuse them, especially in the first half. It's a pretty slow plot that isn't very suspenseful. Jules was the only remotely likable person in this book. Everything the book tells us about Nel Abbott makes it clear she's an awful person. Yet towards the end, everyone just pretends like she was simply misunderstood. For some reason that really annoyed me. Besides that the ending was okay.
Don't expect it to be anything like The Girl on the Train.
The constant switching of perspectives would be interesting if there weren't so many characters. Too many characters. Some who are poorly defined, so it's easy to confuse them, especially in the first half. It's a pretty slow plot that isn't very suspenseful. Jules was the only remotely likable person in this book. Everything the book tells us about Nel Abbott makes it clear she's an awful person. Yet towards the end, everyone just pretends like she was simply misunderstood. For some reason that really annoyed me. Besides that the ending was okay.
Literally everything felt mediocre. Maybe it's the kind of book that makes a better movie.