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thefictionalhevschwar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was a whirlwind read, enthralling and addictive like the characters that are within, but shocking and completely mind-boggling. After finishing the book I can now attest to the claim on the front cover of the "the most shocking ending you'll read all year". You will definitely deduce what the ending will be, but only from piecing together pieces of the puzzle placed throughout the story, right from the beginning. This is, if you're paying attention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Stalking
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
coolbeancat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Animal death
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
lauren2000's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was an amazing psychological thriller with paranormal mixed in. I saw this show on Netflix and decided to buy the book and neither was disappointing and the tv show was kept true to the book. With the surprise plot twist at the end I would happily recommend this fast paced read to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller with a paranormal twist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Drug abuse, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent
carisamarie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Mental illness, and Death of parent
pamshenanigans's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
THIS BOOK. YO. What a fucking trip. Idk what to feel about the very last plot twist because on one hand, I was completely mindblown and thought the ending was a brilliant and brutal twist, but on the other hand, I think the last plot twist was an overkill?
Like if it ended in the 2nd to the last plot twist, it would have been perfect FOR ME.
Before picking this up know that it's a really slow-paced thriller and has some supernatural elements to it. I think this is also best consumed by listening to the audiobook.
Trigger/Content Warnings: manipulation, murder, arson, death of family members
Like if it ended in the 2nd to the last plot twist, it would have been perfect FOR ME.
Before picking this up know that it's a really slow-paced thriller and has some supernatural elements to it. I think this is also best consumed by listening to the audiobook.
Trigger/Content Warnings: manipulation, murder, arson, death of family members
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Death of parent and Emotional abuse
horrorghoul's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
3.5
TW: Drug use, animal dying (descriptive scenes), cheating spouse, death of parents, murder,
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.
Release Date: January 31st, 2017
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 307
Rating: 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
What I Liked:
• Fast paced book
• You want to know what's going to happen
What I Didn't Like:
• I don't understand the point of breaking the book up with "Part one, part two... Etc..."
• The direction of this book
• The ending
• All the fucking wine! So many mentions!
Overall Thoughts: Talk about a book that can evoke do many different emotions in only 300 pages. On one hand you're cheering for Louise at the beginning to hating her by the end (she's honestly a shit person who seems to ditch her child even after he's been gone for a month) to Adele who you wonder what shit she's been through herself and why she's such an obsessive crazy bitch. By the ending you just feel bad that she got sucked into this mess.
The beginning of the book you fucking hate hate and hate David by the ending you want to hug him.
Have you every seen Hannibal Holocaust? So the story goes that the people making the film wanted to create something to shock people so badly. They added terrible scenes of animal killings as well as rape scenes. That's how I felt about this book. The author changes the book from a psychological thriller to a science fiction book. By the last few pages your maybe remembering this happening somewhere before but in a different way.... There's a movie starring Kate Hudson that's called The Skeleton Key; in that movie they use Hoodoo to switch bodies and keep body jumping. Oh then that final twist I didn't see coming but it didn't feel like it added anything. The way it's all described from Adele and David's pov it all seens so rushed and random. The way they both described Rob didn't lead anyone to think he loved David or even liked him. There's no way you woukd habe thought that. Plus the notebook left behind comes off like he's in Lust of Adele, but Louise mentioned that pages were torn out, so perhaps Adele aka Rob removed them so she didn't know. Dude that ending though just seemed so added at last minute. I looked back on the book and he just talks shit about him and doesn't even try to stick around when David came to the clinic to see Adele.
Final Thoughts: That ending thought it was going to make me love this book but nope.
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.
Release Date: January 31st, 2017
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 307
Rating: 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
What I Liked:
• Fast paced book
• You want to know what's going to happen
What I Didn't Like:
• I don't understand the point of breaking the book up with "Part one, part two... Etc..."
• The direction of this book
• The ending
• All the fucking wine! So many mentions!
Overall Thoughts: Talk about a book that can evoke do many different emotions in only 300 pages. On one hand you're cheering for Louise at the beginning to hating her by the end (she's honestly a shit person who seems to ditch her child even after he's been gone for a month) to Adele who you wonder what shit she's been through herself and why she's such an obsessive crazy bitch. By the ending you just feel bad that she got sucked into this mess.
The beginning of the book you fucking hate hate and hate David by the ending you want to hug him.
Have you every seen Hannibal Holocaust? So the story goes that the people making the film wanted to create something to shock people so badly. They added terrible scenes of animal killings as well as rape scenes. That's how I felt about this book. The author changes the book from a psychological thriller to a science fiction book. By the last few pages your maybe remembering this happening somewhere before but in a different way.... There's a movie starring Kate Hudson that's called The Skeleton Key; in that movie they use Hoodoo to switch bodies and keep body jumping. Oh then that final twist I didn't see coming but it didn't feel like it added anything. The way it's all described from Adele and David's pov it all seens so rushed and random. The way they both described Rob didn't lead anyone to think he loved David or even liked him. There's no way you woukd habe thought that. Plus the notebook left behind comes off like he's in Lust of Adele, but Louise mentioned that pages were torn out, so perhaps Adele aka Rob removed them so she didn't know. Dude that ending though just seemed so added at last minute. I looked back on the book and he just talks shit about him and doesn't even try to stick around when David came to the clinic to see Adele.
Final Thoughts: That ending thought it was going to make me love this book but nope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
bookishandlegal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
This book was super gripping and I was intrigued the whole time. The buildup to the end was good and kept me engaged throughout. The story line was interesting and piecing together what was happening through alternating POVs between the two main characters and between the past and present worked really well. One big thing that I didn’t like was the constant emphasis and shaming over Louise’s weight. She’s described around a size 12, probably, which is a very average size but is constantly referred to as fat and heavy and talked about how much better she’ll look when she’s lost a few pounds. None of this set right with me and it seemed wholly unnecessary. There was also a few graphic instances of animal abuse that seemed totally unnecessary.
I also didn’t really care for the ending. It honestly just didn’t make sense. I know very little/almost nothing about lucid dreaming but having to suspend belief and buy that a person switched bodies with two different people throughout their lifetime by lucid dreaming was too much for me. I somewhat enjoyed the twist that Adele had really been Rob the whole time, but it’s all just a bit too much for me to buy and made the book seem kinda hookey and idk, just weird. Maybe I’m totally missing something with lucid dreaming but this just seemed too far fetched for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
bookswithmybulldog's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
lilifane's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
5.0
What the f*** did I just read?!?!?
I'm actually still hysterically laughing because of the ending. It's not that often that an ending actually gets me.
First I thought this would be a regular domestic thriller and I don't really like them that much. The whole cheating plot just annoyed me. But I loved the different perspectives and the feeling that there is something off. And then things got interesting when an element was introduced, I wasn't expecting. Luckily I love these kind of elements in books. When I got the vague idea what the title refers to at about 50% of the book, I was all invested. Hahaha, little did I know then. It blew my mind when I realised what the title actually means. And then again at the very end when I realised what it ACTUALLY actually means. I just think it's genius. The way everything is plotted and fits perfectly together at the end. That's my favourite thing in books. I love love LOVE how subtle all the hints were that you actually could never guess the ending but once you know it you see all those details flashing before your eyes. ;)
This book is definitely one of my all time favourites now.
I'm actually still hysterically laughing because of the ending. It's not that often that an ending actually gets me.
First I thought this would be a regular domestic thriller and I don't really like them that much. The whole cheating plot just annoyed me. But I loved the different perspectives and the feeling that there is something off. And then things got interesting when an element was introduced, I wasn't expecting. Luckily I love these kind of elements in books. When I got the vague idea what the title refers to at about 50% of the book, I was all invested. Hahaha, little did I know then. It blew my mind when I realised what the title actually means. And then again at the very end when I realised what it ACTUALLY actually means. I just think it's genius. The way everything is plotted and fits perfectly together at the end. That's my favourite thing in books. I love love LOVE how subtle all the hints were that you actually could never guess the ending but once you know it you see all those details flashing before your eyes. ;)
This book is definitely one of my all time favourites now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Body shaming
kamin8882's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Omg this book blew my mind ! I don’t even know what to say about it or how to explain how I am feeling right now. What a freaking mind f**k!!! Holy moly!
This book had ALL THE THINGS I wanted in a thriller. Messed up characters on all angles, a crazy plot and an insane ending I would have never seen coming !!
Adele and David are "happily" married, or so it looks on the outside. David feels differently. Although he loves Adele, they share a secret that is haunting him and he can't get past it to love her the same way anymore. Then he meets Louise at a bar and they hit it off immediately. 2 things she does not know, he is married and he is also her new boss. To makes things even more awkward for Louise, she becomes friends with Adele by accident and really enjoys her company. She is living 2 lives with a married couple. David has no idea this is going on !! Adele and David are both thriving when they are with Louise, but she soon finds out somethings that are disturbing to her and has to do something about it !!
If you are looking for a thriller that will blow your mind, you must read this book. I loved it so much and now everything I read after this, I keep comparing the feeling I had with this book. also, make sure you read the book BEFORE the show, they are really similar, but you know the book is ALWAYS better.
This book had ALL THE THINGS I wanted in a thriller. Messed up characters on all angles, a crazy plot and an insane ending I would have never seen coming !!
Adele and David are "happily" married, or so it looks on the outside. David feels differently. Although he loves Adele, they share a secret that is haunting him and he can't get past it to love her the same way anymore. Then he meets Louise at a bar and they hit it off immediately. 2 things she does not know, he is married and he is also her new boss. To makes things even more awkward for Louise, she becomes friends with Adele by accident and really enjoys her company. She is living 2 lives with a married couple. David has no idea this is going on !! Adele and David are both thriving when they are with Louise, but she soon finds out somethings that are disturbing to her and has to do something about it !!
If you are looking for a thriller that will blow your mind, you must read this book. I loved it so much and now everything I read after this, I keep comparing the feeling I had with this book. also, make sure you read the book BEFORE the show, they are really similar, but you know the book is ALWAYS better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Stalking