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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
I don't read a lot of thrillers and this book reminded me why. I was hooked by the premise and the MC, but then just increasingly got stressed out by the last quarter of the plot. It asked me to suspend my disbelief a little too much in the end
Spoiler
when it devolved into a series of things going wrong and people making non-sensical decisions that only served to up the suspense. If characters make stupid decisions, I need to understand why.
It’s very rare I give a book5 stars. This deserves it. I was a little worried about all the hype setting unrealistic expectations, but it’s well deserved. I started reading this late afternoon, and came up to bed with 25% read - I then blitzed through the rest of the book in a few hours, finishing just before 2am. I can’t remember the last time I did that with a book.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
I got a recommendation for this book somewhere, and then went to Goodreads and saw it rated very highly (4.23 stars). I have to admit that I did not love it the way everyone else has. It definitely has themes similar to ROOM and STILL MISSING and all the other books where men hold women captive. It was an interesting read, but just not my cup of tea.
fast-paced
My lovely (enabling) other half bought this for me from the supermarket so I didn’t have to break my book-buying ban! Described on the cover as ‘Misery meets Room’ I can see why he would have been drawn to it, and it didn’t disappoint.
Told from the point of view of ‘Jane’ (not her real name) it is a claustrophobic, panic-inducing thriller that I absolutely raced through. The narrator is trapped in a faux-marriage, hidden from the outside world and paying off a debt she believes she owes in order to keep her family safe. The first quarter of the book does crawl along slightly, I didn’t mind this though, I thought it was important to set the scene and to I still in the reader feelings first of monotony, then despair and eventual acceptance… then, no spoilers, something happens which gives ‘Jane’ more of a reason to fight, from this point the tension really ramps up as she changes her perspective (and plans).
This was an interesting take on a subject which could have been cliched but I really enjoyed the different layers to this one. I felt like I grew with Jane through the book and I was rooting for her from the first page.
Some content warnings though, it covers heavy topics such as human-trafficking, physical and emotional abuse and addiction so maybe one to skip if those are triggers.
Told from the point of view of ‘Jane’ (not her real name) it is a claustrophobic, panic-inducing thriller that I absolutely raced through. The narrator is trapped in a faux-marriage, hidden from the outside world and paying off a debt she believes she owes in order to keep her family safe. The first quarter of the book does crawl along slightly, I didn’t mind this though, I thought it was important to set the scene and to I still in the reader feelings first of monotony, then despair and eventual acceptance… then, no spoilers, something happens which gives ‘Jane’ more of a reason to fight, from this point the tension really ramps up as she changes her perspective (and plans).
This was an interesting take on a subject which could have been cliched but I really enjoyed the different layers to this one. I felt like I grew with Jane through the book and I was rooting for her from the first page.
Some content warnings though, it covers heavy topics such as human-trafficking, physical and emotional abuse and addiction so maybe one to skip if those are triggers.