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litwithleigh's review against another edition
3.0
TRIGGER WARNING: SA
THE PLOT
Ella is on the train eavesdropping as we all do—except the tea she heard was exceptionally disturbing. Two fresh out of prison ex-convicts hitting on two teenage girls. Ella tries to forget what she heard, but that soon proves impossible when one of the girls, Anna, goes missing, and the two ex-cons are suspects. Already hated on by the media for being a bystander, Ella starts receiving mysterious hate mail. Why is this person so mad? And what really happened to Anna?
MY OPINION
*sucks teeth* This really had a lot of potential but the ending was disappointing. The writing was good; I'm noticing now I tend to like authors who are former journalists. They know how to write concisely and each has a unique voice. Some of my fave excerpts (rule of threes strikes again):
Henry glances at his watch. An hour to go. He ought to get back. Have a shower. Have another row with Barbara. Try one final time to calm things down before he faces the music proper.
Tim’s dad showed no interest in him all his life, then suddenly got cancer. Got God. Got in touch.
Simple. Rhythmic. Showing not telling. You can feel the disdain of Henry. You can feel the apathy toward Tim's dad for being a cliche absentee father who pops up at the end in hopes of narcissistic redemption.
Anyways. My famous gripes...
While I enjoyed the writing quality, there was room for improvement on the voice of each character. See, the following line had me convinced Ella was of the unreliable narrator variety and in fact didn't even have a husband or child and had something to do with Anna's disappearance:
I wanted to phone not because I was worried for the girls, but as a punishment, because I was angry at how Sarah had made me feel.
For context, she overhead Sarah having sex with one of the ex-cons on the train (this is revealed in the first chapter so chill). The "I was angry at how Sarah had made me feel" implies this chick has serious problems that would cause her to wild out and potentially kidnap another teenage girl. Why would you be angry at a stranger for having sex in the bathroom? Why do you take it personally like Sarah intentionally bussed it open just to annoy you? Anyways, I spent the entire book waiting for Ella to show her crazy side all because of that one line......... But nope. Just turns out she's a small-minded lady with "traditional values."
You might read that and think, well maybe Driscoll is trying to trip you up? I considered that, but other than that one line, there wasn't any clues Ella was actually a nutjob. It's just that line really stuck to me like white on rice, so I was sure it was foreshadowing creepy behaviour to come. I think it was just an innocent line that I read into a little too much because I've read too many thrillers in my lifetime and I'm always on high alert for red herrings.
I did like the alternating POVs but in the end they were unnecessary. I guess the author was going for character study, but none of the other characters really contributed to the plot. It was just a lot of catch up between POVs to build suspense. It was clear Henry was just a manwhore, not a murderer. It felt like Sarah was assigned some rando trauma so you wouldn't be annoyed she ditched her friend for an ex-con. I kinda liked "the watcher"—spooky vibes. And I guess the PI POV was "necessary" because the mystery had to be solved by a credible character and not one of the regular degular townspeople.
Also, I think this is more of a YA book.... All the main players in this debacle were teens. The adults were just kinda there to provide feels. But it all comes down to the teens. So yeah. I think if I had known that, I would've skipped it.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: Creative writing, mystery keeps you guessing
Cons: Unnecessary POVs, more like a YA book
THE PLOT
Ella is on the train eavesdropping as we all do—except the tea she heard was exceptionally disturbing. Two fresh out of prison ex-convicts hitting on two teenage girls. Ella tries to forget what she heard, but that soon proves impossible when one of the girls, Anna, goes missing, and the two ex-cons are suspects. Already hated on by the media for being a bystander, Ella starts receiving mysterious hate mail. Why is this person so mad? And what really happened to Anna?
MY OPINION
*sucks teeth* This really had a lot of potential but the ending was disappointing. The writing was good; I'm noticing now I tend to like authors who are former journalists. They know how to write concisely and each has a unique voice. Some of my fave excerpts (rule of threes strikes again):
Henry glances at his watch. An hour to go. He ought to get back. Have a shower. Have another row with Barbara. Try one final time to calm things down before he faces the music proper.
Tim’s dad showed no interest in him all his life, then suddenly got cancer. Got God. Got in touch.
Simple. Rhythmic. Showing not telling. You can feel the disdain of Henry. You can feel the apathy toward Tim's dad for being a cliche absentee father who pops up at the end in hopes of narcissistic redemption.
Anyways. My famous gripes...
While I enjoyed the writing quality, there was room for improvement on the voice of each character. See, the following line had me convinced Ella was of the unreliable narrator variety and in fact didn't even have a husband or child and had something to do with Anna's disappearance:
I wanted to phone not because I was worried for the girls, but as a punishment, because I was angry at how Sarah had made me feel.
For context, she overhead Sarah having sex with one of the ex-cons on the train (this is revealed in the first chapter so chill). The "I was angry at how Sarah had made me feel" implies this chick has serious problems that would cause her to wild out and potentially kidnap another teenage girl. Why would you be angry at a stranger for having sex in the bathroom? Why do you take it personally like Sarah intentionally bussed it open just to annoy you? Anyways, I spent the entire book waiting for Ella to show her crazy side all because of that one line......... But nope. Just turns out she's a small-minded lady with "traditional values."
You might read that and think, well maybe Driscoll is trying to trip you up? I considered that, but other than that one line, there wasn't any clues Ella was actually a nutjob. It's just that line really stuck to me like white on rice, so I was sure it was foreshadowing creepy behaviour to come. I think it was just an innocent line that I read into a little too much because I've read too many thrillers in my lifetime and I'm always on high alert for red herrings.
I did like the alternating POVs but in the end they were unnecessary. I guess the author was going for character study, but none of the other characters really contributed to the plot. It was just a lot of catch up between POVs to build suspense. It was clear Henry was just a manwhore, not a murderer. It felt like Sarah was assigned some rando trauma so you wouldn't be annoyed she ditched her friend for an ex-con. I kinda liked "the watcher"—spooky vibes. And I guess the PI POV was "necessary" because the mystery had to be solved by a credible character and not one of the regular degular townspeople.
Also, I think this is more of a YA book.... All the main players in this debacle were teens. The adults were just kinda there to provide feels. But it all comes down to the teens. So yeah. I think if I had known that, I would've skipped it.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: Creative writing, mystery keeps you guessing
Cons: Unnecessary POVs, more like a YA book
smichael1994's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
salyarmor's review against another edition
3.0
Had twists and turns that kept you guessing. I couldn’t figure out who did it. Once it was revealed I was shocked.
It was suspenseful but there were a lot of irrelevant excerpts that had nothing to do with the plot which made certain chapters drag on for no reason. It made it difficult to stay interested at times. I was into it in the beginning but once it started to drag on I was kind of bored. Had to force myself to keep reading at times.
The last few chapters reeled me back in but also felt a little rushed and far fetched.
Overall, enjoyable but not memorable.
It was suspenseful but there were a lot of irrelevant excerpts that had nothing to do with the plot which made certain chapters drag on for no reason. It made it difficult to stay interested at times. I was into it in the beginning but once it started to drag on I was kind of bored. Had to force myself to keep reading at times.
The last few chapters reeled me back in but also felt a little rushed and far fetched.
Overall, enjoyable but not memorable.
emrodav's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 ⭐️
A really good mystery with tons of twists and turns.
(I should mention that there are mentions of and one non-graphic scene of a memory of childhood sexual assault. If that’s a trigger for you, it might be best to skip this book.)
A really good mystery with tons of twists and turns.
(I should mention that there are mentions of and one non-graphic scene of a memory of childhood sexual assault. If that’s a trigger for you, it might be best to skip this book.)
ohheychie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
brottany's review against another edition
4.0
Some might not be a fan of authors that jump around from different POVs and different points in time, but I love this type of writing. I was intrigued page after page. Trying to keep up with the clues, until the very end when everything came together. I felt as though I was part of the journey myself. Great read!
finnd_reads's review
3.0
Interesting enough to keep me going til the end, but nothing particularly special in terms of crime fiction
namitakhanna's review against another edition
3.0
Ella is on the way home when she overhears two men flirting with two teenagers in the train. Her amusement turns to concern when she learns the two men have just been released from prison . She thinks about warning the girls but at the last moment decides to mind her own business. The next day to her horror she realizes one of the girls , Anna Ballard , is missing and nobody knows what happened to her . A year later there is still no trace of Anna and Ella is racked with guilt about not warning the girls off. The police still don’t have clue but when an anniversary special about Anna airs on TV, Ella starts getting threatening letters and hires a private detective Matthew to get to the bottom of it. When Matthew starts investigating different things come to light and everybody including Anna’s father and her best friend have secrets to hide.
An interesting story line narrated with different POV’s in third and first person . A good enough mystery with a lot of suspects but for some reason I could not relate to the characters. There was a lot of backstory and details about the flower shop that was unrelated to the plot which made me skip through some pages. Overall 3 ½ stars as the suspect was a complete surprise
Many thanks to a Thomas & Mercer, Kindle First & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
An interesting story line narrated with different POV’s in third and first person . A good enough mystery with a lot of suspects but for some reason I could not relate to the characters. There was a lot of backstory and details about the flower shop that was unrelated to the plot which made me skip through some pages. Overall 3 ½ stars as the suspect was a complete surprise
Many thanks to a Thomas & Mercer, Kindle First & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
leming's review against another edition
2.0
I started reading it on an airplane, where I had literally nothing else to do, but still struggled to finish.
The premise of this book is amazing. The opening completely hooked me in; I could not wait to read what is coming and find out but also I was enamored by the moral dilemma of the protagonist.
Having said that, that about sums up everything good about this book. The start. The rest of this book is filled with thriller/mystery tropes that you've seen million times before (e.g. the suspicious father who turns out to be just an adulterer) and I found myself not really bothered about the characters at all. I did not expect the killer would be who the person is, but when it was revealed, I wasn't really shocked or surprised, possibly because I couldn't care less at that point. It wasn't very clever nor very touching. I could delve into the plot details and analyze why I didn't really like them but honestly I really do not care at this point.
The premise of this book is amazing. The opening completely hooked me in; I could not wait to read what is coming and find out but also I was enamored by the moral dilemma of the protagonist.
Having said that, that about sums up everything good about this book. The start. The rest of this book is filled with thriller/mystery tropes that you've seen million times before (e.g. the suspicious father who turns out to be just an adulterer) and I found myself not really bothered about the characters at all. I did not expect the killer would be who the person is, but when it was revealed, I wasn't really shocked or surprised, possibly because I couldn't care less at that point. It wasn't very clever nor very touching. I could delve into the plot details and analyze why I didn't really like them but honestly I really do not care at this point.