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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Thank goodness this book is over. I didn't like all the obvious red herrings in the book.
Was hoping for a good suspenseful book but felt it was predictable and mediocre. Sure, there were twists but ones I could mostly see coming. “What She Knew” is a strange title for the book as well- doesn’t seem to connect with the story. Also, the Jim Clemo therapy sessions seem really out of place- probably future books will make them make sense but they added pages to this book that weren’t necessary.
Uff da. What a book. Super intense and gut-wrenching. Very well-written and I enjoyed the change in narration. Not necessarily something I would read again but one that I'll continue to think about.
As a mother, I can't begin to imagine what Rachel went through. The author did an excellent job of sowing seeds of suspicion on multiple characters throughout the book and kept me guessing for the longest time.
Rachel is walking in the park with her son, a tradition they repeat every weekend, when Ben asks if he can run ahead to the park with his dog. Rachel gives her assent, and that’s the last time she sees him. What follows is a frantic hunt in the woods, police lights, search parties, and the worst period of Rachel Jenner’s life. As the media catches onto the story, Rachel is vilified, her rocky relationship with Ben’s father and his new wife gets even more strained, her personal life wilts, and her mental health declines as she is fraught with anxiety and panic over the welfare of her only child.
What She Knew is a pretty average thriller. I couldn’t get too invested in the characters, and since I have been reading a lot of thrillers in recent weeks, I didn’t find too much about this one to inspire much interest. I’m single, and I can’t really relate to a story about a woman missing her son. I didn’t find much of the mystery to really intrigue me, either. The story shifted perspectives between Rachel during Ben’s disappearance and the detective who had worked the case a year later, but even that wasn’t enough to break through the monotony for me. Altogether this was a pretty lackluster read; not bad by any means, but not especially good. If a mother read this book, she might have a different perspective, but for me, it missed its mark.
What She Knew is a pretty average thriller. I couldn’t get too invested in the characters, and since I have been reading a lot of thrillers in recent weeks, I didn’t find too much about this one to inspire much interest. I’m single, and I can’t really relate to a story about a woman missing her son. I didn’t find much of the mystery to really intrigue me, either. The story shifted perspectives between Rachel during Ben’s disappearance and the detective who had worked the case a year later, but even that wasn’t enough to break through the monotony for me. Altogether this was a pretty lackluster read; not bad by any means, but not especially good. If a mother read this book, she might have a different perspective, but for me, it missed its mark.
This so easily could have been a 3/3.5. A fairly average thriller. I've read and enjoyed Gilly Macmillan before.
However. Even with the reveal that the teacher took Ben and it had nothing to do with Rachel's sister's desire for a son, I found myself pissed off.
We meet Miss May's parents and they say she was always "off" as a child, manipulative, mean. And it started to look like we had a female sociopath or psychopath who took Ben because she was evil. And then...it was really because she was infertile. My least favorite trope of all time (or at least top 5). We couldn't just have an evil woman, oh no, she had to be evil because she couldn't have kids. Eye roll.
And then! We spend the whole book thinking Rachel's friend Laura must be colluding with the journalists. Only to find out it was Emma (the FLO). But Rachel still is glad to have Laura out of her life. Why? Because Laura "voluntarily gave up a child" when she had an abortion. I was iffy on their fight in the first place but Rachel thinking of Laura's abortion alongside her kid being abducted made it borderline not as offensive? But then we reach the end and, again when we find that Laura's only faults are an abortion and perhaps too much drinking, Rachel is like "good riddance, I don't need her."
What the fuck.
And then Rachel waxed poetic about how she shouldn't have been upset when her husband left her for another woman because that was simply her lot in life. Again, I say, what the fuck.
Also the book was just rambly and took forever to wrap up. And DI Clemo was just annoying as a character.
Basically...it wasn't a great one. Low 2.
However. Even with the reveal that the teacher took Ben and it had nothing to do with Rachel's sister's desire for a son, I found myself pissed off.
We meet Miss May's parents and they say she was always "off" as a child, manipulative, mean. And it started to look like we had a female sociopath or psychopath who took Ben because she was evil. And then...it was really because she was infertile. My least favorite trope of all time (or at least top 5). We couldn't just have an evil woman, oh no, she had to be evil because she couldn't have kids. Eye roll.
And then! We spend the whole book thinking Rachel's friend Laura must be colluding with the journalists. Only to find out it was Emma (the FLO). But Rachel still is glad to have Laura out of her life. Why? Because Laura "voluntarily gave up a child" when she had an abortion. I was iffy on their fight in the first place but Rachel thinking of Laura's abortion alongside her kid being abducted made it borderline not as offensive? But then we reach the end and, again when we find that Laura's only faults are an abortion and perhaps too much drinking, Rachel is like "good riddance, I don't need her."
What the fuck.
And then Rachel waxed poetic about how she shouldn't have been upset when her husband left her for another woman because that was simply her lot in life. Again, I say, what the fuck.
Also the book was just rambly and took forever to wrap up. And DI Clemo was just annoying as a character.
Basically...it wasn't a great one. Low 2.
I love reading books like this- that help me understand what it is like to be in certain situations- even ones that we hope never to be in. Gilly Macmillan takes the world of a mother with a kidnapped son and of the detective on the case and shows what such a harsh situation it is to be in. I'm glad she went to so much work with research and interviews to get an accurate picture of what it is like.
Intriguing book but ending felt like a cop out. Expected more.