Reviews with content warning for Gore - Verity

A rollercoaster and a half. I thought I saw the end coming and then it was flipped upside down on its head. I have no idea how to feel about the ending, low-key think it was a cop out. Someone else suggested it could be because of plot holes within Hoover’s writing and that would make sense. At times I felt the writing was far too repetitive, with most of the chapters in between Verity’s being exactly the same. I think the book would have been vastly better without the romance, as much of it felt tacky, ill-placed and inappropriate, considering the content that had come before it. Characters were relatively unlikeable, with the ending only cementing this further.

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eheth's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall I really enjoyed this book as the twists and turns kept me on my toes. This book definitely has me thinking I need to read trigger warnings in the future. Now that I have a child, I find reading anything with child abuse very hard to read. Also, the first page of the book was a bit much for me .. I struggled to get the imagery of what happened out of my brain. But I struggle with the idea of gore.

Besides that, I really enjoyed the storytelling of this book and was nice break from the mostly romance books I have been reading as of later.

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brooklynbrewer's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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cde10's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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

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kodzukein's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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acogna's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

The thing is, this book has an excellent plot. I mean that in the best way. It's extremely Rebecca-esque with the big house and beautiful untouchable husband and the shadow of the former wife that needs to be filled in. But the strange inability for this book to engage with its meta-narrative of writing

and especially writing as a tool for destruction

and in general its extremely uncomfortable moments of prose genuinely shattered any praise for this book I could give.

That twist in the end is also quite expected, but in hindsight it was also extremely dumb. There's a lot to be said there about whether or not writing should be believed at face value, but it doesn't go into it farther than that. Also, I just think the twist is just super inconsistent with the rest of the plot. And I also think just writing fucked-up shit like that, even as a coping mechanism, should be put under lock and key forever. Why the fuck was her laptop open for that? Why the fuck was it open on something like that?

Anyway, like all Hoover books I will never read, I will give it the same diagnosis: great plot, terrible execution. Her plot made me finish this in a day; her prose made me want to finish it faster, and not out of love for it.

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