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stephisbooked's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting cat and mouse story. Parts were extremely repetitive and I felt like I was rereading a chapter from earlier. Gil truly was his own worst enemy and some of his choices were mind-blowingly stupid. His background, once revealed, did allow some of his choices to make way more sense. As a naturally suspicious person, I have no clue how anyone would buy into Matthew's act. He was extremely unlikable (obviously) so I am not sure how he hoodwinked others so easily.
lalalenii's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
night_owl9's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jamiee_f's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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? Yes
2.75
Gil is a married father of two girls, and his estranged sister just died in a tragic accident, leaving her troubled 17 year old son Matthew behind to come live with Gil and his family.
Years ago, Gil swears Matthew tried to drown one of his daughters on a family vacation. Matthew's parents defended him and the family relationships crumbled. Now Gil is living with a potential murderer in his home, and the boy has enrolled in his creative writing class as well. Gil becomes obsessed with figuring out what Matthew is up to, and things escalate once Matthew submits 'fictional' stories of his cousins and parents deaths. Gil starts to spiral and act erratically, and he is in reasingly convinced Matthew arranged for the death of his parents.
Culminating in a tense confrontation where Gil plunges into the water, falling of a bridge. Matthew covers up the incriminating details and makes it look like a convincing suicide.
The book ends with kind of a triple twist...first twist is when we seemingly get confirmation that Matthew did kill his parents and pay off the Albanian hit man. Second twist is when Gil falls/is pushed off the bridge and Matthew makes him disappear, so Matthew can go on to college to write a novelization of this whole story. Third twist is when we cut to a long term recovery ward, where a mysterious patient has just woken up...and can finally communicate that his name is Gil.
The story here was good. I was curious to see if the uncle was an unreliable narrator, it felt like we were moving in that direction! Gil was clearly becoming more unhinged, making bad choices. I was annoyed that he ended up with no proof of Matthews crime confession story because he couldn't find the scanner wire?? As if all the characters don't have smart phones. I could believe our spiraling protagonist wouldn't think to take pictures of the story, except 1) he talks his wife he can't scan it and she is fully lucid and 2) he considers taking pictures of pages earlier in the book! A stupid plot hole. Additionally, the like twist/twist/twist ending felt like it was only done for shock value. The recovery ward story created more questions and almost set up a premise for a sequel? Which feels kind of cheap. We also never get any answers as to the boys motivation. Why did he kill his parents? Is he just a run of the mill sociopath? Did something happen to him? If not, I guess this is just a heavy handed indictment of rich families from Manhattan? IDK there were a lot of ques ions that did not resolve well. I don't like when a book is wishy washy, commit to a premise! Either the nephew is evil for some reason, lying to everyone and a master manipulator, or the uncle is fully delulu and it was an unreliable narrator tale. It felt like the author tried to split the difference here which was not very effective.
Culminating in a tense confrontation where Gil plunges into the water, falling of a bridge. Matthew covers up the incriminating details and makes it look like a convincing suicide.
The book ends with kind of a triple twist...first twist is when we seemingly get confirmation that Matthew did kill his parents and pay off the Albanian hit man. Second twist is when Gil falls/is pushed off the bridge and Matthew makes him disappear, so Matthew can go on to college to write a novelization of this whole story. Third twist is when we cut to a long term recovery ward, where a mysterious patient has just woken up...and can finally communicate that his name is Gil.
lilibetbombshell's review against another edition
4.0
This is a gripping, propulsive, positively disquieting and creepy thriller that caused me to want to bare my teeth at anyone and everything that caused me to be ripped away from reading it for any length of time. How dare anyone drag me away from the pitch-perfect suspense and chills this book is evoking in me after so many thrillers that couldn’t accomplish that same feeling? Why am I being ripped away from the delicious panic spiral one protagonist keeps sliding down like a greased staircase while the antagonist seems to gleefully watch his descent from the shadows? The mutual hatred? The mutual resentment? Argh!
This book will grip you from the start, with the protagonist’s unorthodox response to the knowledge he and his wife are obliged (via his sister and her husband’s will) to take guardianship of their nephew until he goes off to Yale in less than a year. Most aunts and uncles would be glad to take family in during such a tough time, but their nephew, Matthew, has never been your average child, and they haven’t seen him or or talked to him in about six years. For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you why, but it’s a good reason.
The differences between Gil (the uncle and our protagonist) and Matthew (the nephew and the antagonist) are so extreme they almost touch behind, making a sphere. Gil and his family are progressive neoliberals, while Matthew could care less about the human condition and believes only in the power of money, making more money, and making people do things solely due to the influence of money. It would seem, even though it mostly goes unsaid, that the only thing Gil and Matthew might ever agree on if it wasn’t such a taboo topic between the two is that Matthew’s dad was a horrible person and Matthew’s mom/Gil’s sister was a good person at heart but was ultimately an absentee parent who didn’t know what to do with her son but throw money at him and hope it would solve his issues. And if there’s one thing Gil doesn’t trust and has never trusted, it’s money. In his mind, money stole and changed his sister and his mother. Better to live modestly than to live in excess, in his mind, no matter how much he envies what money could do for him and his family. No matter what Gil does, his paranoia is hyperfocused on money and rich people, especially on Matthew (for reasons I can’t tell you because of spoiler reasons), who is the very picture of the privileged white male.
Now Matthew is in Vermont with them, in the place of sanctuary Gil feels saved him and his family after trying to live in New York City, a place that he felt squeezed the life out of him. This city boy, full of money, arrogance, and privilege, invades the only place Gil has felt safe since his parents passed and the only place he’s ever felt sure his two girls have been safe from everything a city like New York could take from them. Unlike Gil, however, the rest of his family thaws toward Matthew, forming closer friendships and relationships that Gil can’t seem to stop without coming across as a complete lunatic.
Is this a story of a psychopath? Yes. More than that, though, it’s a story about being forced to live in a constant state of paranoia that drives you inside your head and into a choking state of anxiety. Sleep becomes elusive, if not completely absent. Your sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive, constantly on alert. You’re hyperfocused on the object of your paranoia and it soon becomes apparent that knowing everything and anything about that object is the only thing that may be the only balm to soothe you, if only for a little bit. The psychopath already knows the path he’s on. He’s loving your spiral and how you’re going downhill. To him, you’re pathetic. He’s just waiting to either get bored of you or waiting for you to become a problem to get rid of.
It’s this tightrope that keeps A Flaw in the Design such a delicious read. The standoff. Who’s going to give first, the anxiety-ridden uncle in the middle of a paranoia-induced nervous breakdown or the psychopathic nephew? Which path is the uncle going to take? Is the nephew even a psychopath or is he just an awful jerk? It’s going to keep you guessing almost to the very end.
And there’s the rub: the ending. I’ve seen other reviews complain about the ending and I have to say I’m among the naysayers. I didn’t like the ending. I would’ve given this book five stars if the book ended the way I thought it should have. Otherwise, it’s an absolute gem of a thriller from a debut author and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. Any ideas, thoughts, opinions, or views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Domestic Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Murder Thriller/Literary Fiction/Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
This book will grip you from the start, with the protagonist’s unorthodox response to the knowledge he and his wife are obliged (via his sister and her husband’s will) to take guardianship of their nephew until he goes off to Yale in less than a year. Most aunts and uncles would be glad to take family in during such a tough time, but their nephew, Matthew, has never been your average child, and they haven’t seen him or or talked to him in about six years. For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you why, but it’s a good reason.
The differences between Gil (the uncle and our protagonist) and Matthew (the nephew and the antagonist) are so extreme they almost touch behind, making a sphere. Gil and his family are progressive neoliberals, while Matthew could care less about the human condition and believes only in the power of money, making more money, and making people do things solely due to the influence of money. It would seem, even though it mostly goes unsaid, that the only thing Gil and Matthew might ever agree on if it wasn’t such a taboo topic between the two is that Matthew’s dad was a horrible person and Matthew’s mom/Gil’s sister was a good person at heart but was ultimately an absentee parent who didn’t know what to do with her son but throw money at him and hope it would solve his issues. And if there’s one thing Gil doesn’t trust and has never trusted, it’s money. In his mind, money stole and changed his sister and his mother. Better to live modestly than to live in excess, in his mind, no matter how much he envies what money could do for him and his family. No matter what Gil does, his paranoia is hyperfocused on money and rich people, especially on Matthew (for reasons I can’t tell you because of spoiler reasons), who is the very picture of the privileged white male.
Now Matthew is in Vermont with them, in the place of sanctuary Gil feels saved him and his family after trying to live in New York City, a place that he felt squeezed the life out of him. This city boy, full of money, arrogance, and privilege, invades the only place Gil has felt safe since his parents passed and the only place he’s ever felt sure his two girls have been safe from everything a city like New York could take from them. Unlike Gil, however, the rest of his family thaws toward Matthew, forming closer friendships and relationships that Gil can’t seem to stop without coming across as a complete lunatic.
Is this a story of a psychopath? Yes. More than that, though, it’s a story about being forced to live in a constant state of paranoia that drives you inside your head and into a choking state of anxiety. Sleep becomes elusive, if not completely absent. Your sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive, constantly on alert. You’re hyperfocused on the object of your paranoia and it soon becomes apparent that knowing everything and anything about that object is the only thing that may be the only balm to soothe you, if only for a little bit. The psychopath already knows the path he’s on. He’s loving your spiral and how you’re going downhill. To him, you’re pathetic. He’s just waiting to either get bored of you or waiting for you to become a problem to get rid of.
It’s this tightrope that keeps A Flaw in the Design such a delicious read. The standoff. Who’s going to give first, the anxiety-ridden uncle in the middle of a paranoia-induced nervous breakdown or the psychopathic nephew? Which path is the uncle going to take? Is the nephew even a psychopath or is he just an awful jerk? It’s going to keep you guessing almost to the very end.
And there’s the rub: the ending. I’ve seen other reviews complain about the ending and I have to say I’m among the naysayers. I didn’t like the ending. I would’ve given this book five stars if the book ended the way I thought it should have. Otherwise, it’s an absolute gem of a thriller from a debut author and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. Any ideas, thoughts, opinions, or views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Domestic Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Murder Thriller/Literary Fiction/Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
manderley's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
basicbsguide's review against another edition
4.0
The audiobook is narrated by David Pittu and approx 10 hours on audio. I enjoyed the narration. Thank you PRH audio for the gifted alc.
This story is very character driven and I chucked at how the main character was quickly spiraling.
Recommend for fans of The Push or Baby Teeth.
This story is very character driven and I chucked at how the main character was quickly spiraling.
Recommend for fans of The Push or Baby Teeth.
luckycharmedlovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
A Flaw In the Design was such an out of the ordinary read. Just based on the synopsis, I was immediately intrigued and couldn’t wait to read it. Gil and his wife and two daughters are about to take in Gil’s nephew, whose parents have just died. Gil is grappling with his grief for losing his estranged sister, while also struggling with his jealousy of the entitled and rich and simultaneous distrust for his nephew based on an incident that happened years ago between his nephew and one of his daughters. The entire time I was reading, I disliked Gil and was disappointed that it seemed to be just another unreliable narrator story. When I got to the last 25%, I just kept flipping pages as the twist was so, well, twisty! I did not anticipate the ending, and the sort of cliffhanger at the end had me wondering what exactly I just read. Overall, I enjoyed the story and would recommend giving it a try.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.