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jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Stalking, Alcohol, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Death, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Dementia, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
aschmitttyy's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-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
2.75
This book really had me in the first half; I was excited to keep reading and see what happened. However, it lost me from there. I feel like Anna (Sophie) and Fin's story line was hard to follow with the introduction of many new characters towards the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Murder
zenzi2read's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Rape
Minor: Infidelity and Suicide
shaylac's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was pleasantly surprised reading this book. It started off slow with the typical husband leaves the main character (Anna) for her friend and Anna ends up having a mental breakdown. But the mental breakdown leads to an unlikely friend and confidant as they travel through Anna's past and parts of Scotland.
TLDR:
This thriller/mystery will take you through Anna's past recounting her life but in doing so finds an unlikely friend to uncover the mystery of an old friends death.
TLDR:
This thriller/mystery will take you through Anna's past recounting her life but in doing so finds an unlikely friend to uncover the mystery of an old friends death.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Infidelity, and Eating disorder
readingelli's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Violence and Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
Maria/ vory (Georgian mafia), conspiracyjesscoast's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The premise of this book was so exciting and promising, and the first half really delivered. I loved the format of the narration with episodes of the podcast interjected throughout. The journey through Europe was delightful and immersive. The podcast script was exactly something I'd love to listen to, though it ends poorly and abruptly in my opinion so perhaps I should have noticed Mina's issues finding a satisfying ending earlier than I did.
The set up is mysterious and set my expectations high, maybe a little too high, which led to disappointment as the story dragged on in what felt like was a sloppy, confusing, too convenient wrap up. I also found the character's personalities, decisions, and dialogue unrealistic to the point of being silly and eye-roll inducing. Her attempt at making a quirky, diverse set of characters made them unrelatable and impossible to predict (and not in a fun mysterious way, in a frustrating way where everyone felt disconnected and forced). The problem was that I found Mina really couldn't deliver on all she promised.
<Spoiler>I have many unanswered questions that I'm still annoyed by. I feel like there was never a clear answer about why Anna was so intrigued by Leon's story she felt she had to pause her life and put her children at risk to investigate. No further details about their relationship ever emerge, and Lillys character seemed like a pointless throw away. The climax at Gretchen's compound in Paris was far too fast and impossible to imagine in any realistic sense. The big twist wasnt fully explained and left a lot of doubt about whether Gretchen was the mastermind she was described as. Fin was unrealistically stupid, and his podcast made no sense to listeners who didn't know what was going on. I find it hard to believe he'd compromise everyone's safety without thinking twice over and over and over. He only made good decisions when it saved the day and they had no other escape, which I find lazy and undeveloped writing. Overall the second half of the book needed a much better edit, a more thought through plot, and less pages wasted on logistics with more pages dedicated to logical decisions and explaining motivations and intentions.
The set up is mysterious and set my expectations high, maybe a little too high, which led to disappointment as the story dragged on in what felt like was a sloppy, confusing, too convenient wrap up. I also found the character's personalities, decisions, and dialogue unrealistic to the point of being silly and eye-roll inducing. Her attempt at making a quirky, diverse set of characters made them unrelatable and impossible to predict (and not in a fun mysterious way, in a frustrating way where everyone felt disconnected and forced). The problem was that I found Mina really couldn't deliver on all she promised.
<Spoiler>I have many unanswered questions that I'm still annoyed by. I feel like there was never a clear answer about why Anna was so intrigued by Leon's story she felt she had to pause her life and put her children at risk to investigate. No further details about their relationship ever emerge, and Lillys character seemed like a pointless throw away. The climax at Gretchen's compound in Paris was far too fast and impossible to imagine in any realistic sense. The big twist wasnt fully explained and left a lot of doubt about whether Gretchen was the mastermind she was described as. Fin was unrealistically stupid, and his podcast made no sense to listeners who didn't know what was going on. I find it hard to believe he'd compromise everyone's safety without thinking twice over and over and over. He only made good decisions when it saved the day and they had no other escape, which I find lazy and undeveloped writing. Overall the second half of the book needed a much better edit, a more thought through plot, and less pages wasted on logistics with more pages dedicated to logical decisions and explaining motivations and intentions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Murder, Violence, and Infidelity
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
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