Scan barcode
afterplague's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-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
3.25
I know a lot of people really want to pretend the pandemic didn't happen. A lot of people don't want to read about stories set during the pandemic because they use reading as an escape. I thought the premise of 56 Days was really interesting, though. Could lockdown be the cover-up for the perfect murder?
Unfortunately, I think this book suffers from its premise. There isn't a lot to DO during lockdown, so a lot of this book takes place in people's heads or through conversation. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when I talk about this novel I can't really talk about what HAPPENS. I can only talk about what the reveals are. I think that's maybe the sign of a not great mystery.
The other thing that 56 Days suffers from is in relation to its title. Maybe this was just my expectation, but I was expecting to get a linear timeline of what exactly happened over those days. Instead, the story travels from the present to the past, then forward, then the present, then back to the beginning of the past, then forward, and etc. It creates a really difficult to follow timeline to the point that I was losing track of when certain events were taking place in relation to each other.
Spoiler time
Our two main characters are basically the focus of the story. Ciara is a shy, lonely girl new to Dublin and Oliver is a private guarded man, a little less new to Dublin. For a lot of the story, Ciara comes across as really anxious, almost to the extreme. I had to put the book down and say out loud, "There better be a reason for this level of anxiety because it's getting ridiculous." Thankfully, there was a reason, but it didn't stop the beginning of the book from being slightly frustrating. Oliver is a much more interesting mystery.
When he first sees Ciara, he thinks she's a journalist following him around, but we've already seen Ciara's point of view of their introduction. So, we as the audience think we know her intentions and that he's just being paranoid. That's clever, and I liked it.
As their relationship progresses, we find out in the present day timeline that Oliver is a famous child murderer, both in the sense he murdered a child and that he was a child when the murder occurred. Not only that, but he was with another boy. I think this is a pretty good twist, and immediately my thought was that Oliver killed a relative of Ciara.
As we progress, however, we find that the boy that was killed wasn't Ciara's brother, the other killer was. Oliver tells her what he did in his past without knowing this about her, and he paints himself as just going along with what the other boy was doing. Right after this, he discovers that she's not who she says she is. Then he slips and falls in the shower. Ciara goes to save him, telling him who she is, but Oliver admits that he switched the roles in the story. Oliver was the instigator and the aggressor, but because he lied he got a shorter prison sentence. Ciara decides to leave him in the tub, and turns on the faucet so he'll drown.
It's so weird to type it all out. This happens in the last eighty pages, maybe? I don't think the book needed to be as long as it was, or it needed something more exciting to fill that runtime. The twists were pretty good, but the story itself was pretty boring. The atmosphere was fine, the writing was fine. It was just a very okay book.
I would recommend 56 Days if you enjoy a slower, more psychological kind of thriller. Again, there are some good twists and turns, but the meat of the book is a little bit lacking. Maybe if you have a free afternoon.
Unfortunately, I think this book suffers from its premise. There isn't a lot to DO during lockdown, so a lot of this book takes place in people's heads or through conversation. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when I talk about this novel I can't really talk about what HAPPENS. I can only talk about what the reveals are. I think that's maybe the sign of a not great mystery.
The other thing that 56 Days suffers from is in relation to its title. Maybe this was just my expectation, but I was expecting to get a linear timeline of what exactly happened over those days. Instead, the story travels from the present to the past, then forward, then the present, then back to the beginning of the past, then forward, and etc. It creates a really difficult to follow timeline to the point that I was losing track of when certain events were taking place in relation to each other.
Spoiler time
Our two main characters are basically the focus of the story. Ciara is a shy, lonely girl new to Dublin and Oliver is a private guarded man, a little less new to Dublin. For a lot of the story, Ciara comes across as really anxious, almost to the extreme. I had to put the book down and say out loud, "There better be a reason for this level of anxiety because it's getting ridiculous." Thankfully, there was a reason, but it didn't stop the beginning of the book from being slightly frustrating. Oliver is a much more interesting mystery.
When he first sees Ciara, he thinks she's a journalist following him around, but we've already seen Ciara's point of view of their introduction. So, we as the audience think we know her intentions and that he's just being paranoid. That's clever, and I liked it.
As their relationship progresses, we find out in the present day timeline that Oliver is a famous child murderer, both in the sense he murdered a child and that he was a child when the murder occurred. Not only that, but he was with another boy. I think this is a pretty good twist, and immediately my thought was that Oliver killed a relative of Ciara.
As we progress, however, we find that the boy that was killed wasn't Ciara's brother, the other killer was. Oliver tells her what he did in his past without knowing this about her, and he paints himself as just going along with what the other boy was doing. Right after this, he discovers that she's not who she says she is. Then he slips and falls in the shower. Ciara goes to save him, telling him who she is, but Oliver admits that he switched the roles in the story. Oliver was the instigator and the aggressor, but because he lied he got a shorter prison sentence. Ciara decides to leave him in the tub, and turns on the faucet so he'll drown.
It's so weird to type it all out. This happens in the last eighty pages, maybe? I don't think the book needed to be as long as it was, or it needed something more exciting to fill that runtime. The twists were pretty good, but the story itself was pretty boring. The atmosphere was fine, the writing was fine. It was just a very okay book.
I would recommend 56 Days if you enjoy a slower, more psychological kind of thriller. Again, there are some good twists and turns, but the meat of the book is a little bit lacking. Maybe if you have a free afternoon.
manderzreadz's review against another edition
4.0
Took a chance on this thriller, even though I was unsure how I felt about a book set during the COVID pandemic. Thankfully, this book surprised me. It was very interesting and COVID was not the forefront of the plot, just a way to set the scene for the events. Overall, a great book!
erinbrook's review against another edition
3.0
I really really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it left me a little disappointed.
I was worried that it would get political, but thankfully it never sounded preachy. I thought this book was spot on in describing the beginning of the pandemic...at one point she even says something about being sick of hearing the word "unprecedented." That made me laugh, lol.
What i didn't like-- The time line. Holy cow, i hated the way it bounced around. I typically love multiple timelines, but this one didn't really make sense until the halfway point. I actually went back and read the first quarter in chronological order, which helped a little. It also made me realize how unnecessarily repetitive it was.
I also thought the detectives POV was unnecessary....specifically the chapter with the handcuffs (eyeroll.)
Overall, i thought it was a good book with a good plot twist. It was just the format that i couldn't get behind.
I was worried that it would get political, but thankfully it never sounded preachy. I thought this book was spot on in describing the beginning of the pandemic...at one point she even says something about being sick of hearing the word "unprecedented." That made me laugh, lol.
What i didn't like-- The time line. Holy cow, i hated the way it bounced around. I typically love multiple timelines, but this one didn't really make sense until the halfway point. I actually went back and read the first quarter in chronological order, which helped a little. It also made me realize how unnecessarily repetitive it was.
I also thought the detectives POV was unnecessary....specifically the chapter with the handcuffs (eyeroll.)
Overall, i thought it was a good book with a good plot twist. It was just the format that i couldn't get behind.
canadian_cristal's review against another edition
1.0
90% of the book was about covid, 10% was actually storyline.
chloerigali's review against another edition
3.0
Slightly predicable, but I enjoyed it! Kinda strange to read a book written during our pandemic era. Own a physical copy, but probably not something I'd read twice.
lilliankeys's review against another edition
3.0
While the premise is good, the choppy writing style was a bit annoying. Overall, it was good, but it could have been better.
cfranchi_'s review against another edition
4.0
I thought I knew the twist half way through and I was totally wrong! the only thing I didn’t like about this book is how the timeline jumps back and forth, I had to constantly check the beginning of the chapter to see what day it was as I was reading.
sinhaleyus's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
kgmay25's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-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
4.25
rhmunch512's review against another edition
4.0
56 Days is a murder mystery that takes place during the beginning of the pandemic. I found it kinda hard to rate because what was good was very good but the first half of the book was very dull. It felt like at times Catherine would use big unnecessary words and provide too much details for things that really didn’t need it. What really made the stories my was the plot twists; not only that but the plot twists within the plot twists. From what the characters were to the relationships they had with each other. Even the characters that weren’t alive had a mystery to them (who they were as people and their relationship with the main characters). Overall I rate this book a 3.75/5 stars. What was good was really good but it took a while to get good and it’s flaws ere apparent. It was fairly quotable and the last third of it had me itching to continue reading. I feel like the ending could have been a bit more detailed but overall a good mystery worth the read.