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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Well done with lots of plot twists.
Loveddd this book. Was a little slow in the middle, but so different from anything I’ve ever read. Worth the read a million times, even though i didn’t like how fast the end wrapped up, in my opinion.
dark
funny
mysterious
relaxing
This book has been on my TBR since 2019...my only regret about that is that I have taken so long to get around to actually reading it! This was Samantha Downing’s debut thriller and needless to say, I was so blown away by it, I have added all of her other books to my TBR where they now sit patiently awaiting their turn to be read by me. Millicent, is the lovely wife, she lives with her family of 4 in a quiet suburban town with her tennis instructor husband and 2 smart children. From the outside they look cookie cutter perfect, but scratch the surface and what began unravelling was just how dysfunctional this family was. Millicent and her husband are caught up in the mousewheel of monotony that everyday life can be, so to relieve their boredom they start engaging in their hobby of organising the murders of young women. Deliciously disturbing characters, with a mix of dark humour and sociopathic characters, it held me hostage from my real life, from the first to the very last page. #mylovelywife #samanthadowning #penguin #thriller #fable #goodreads #getlitsy #thestorygraph #tea_sipping_bookworm #bookqueen #bookstagram
Very rudimentary writing and was overall bad
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a true dichotomy for me- somewhere between mediocre writing and stilted dialogue and a plot that picks up around Chapter 55-56ish. It's one of the emblems of classic thriller fare at this point where the writing and even the clunky plot are a little too obvious but the "hook/twist" at the end drags you in for more. I guess it's why it's called guilty pleasure- read fast so you can't always see the plot holes or character development gaps.
Maybe I'm picky.
There are some shining moments of literary insight. The description of the cat and mouse game played with Tobias and his prospective murder candidates- it is alluring and could be fleshed out with a few more subtleties to be truly lyrical. The first few bar scenes between Tobias and Petra shine, the description of a bar which is "for drinkers, by drinkers, a place where everyone is too inebriated for details," is deftly snuggled into other tired descriptions of middle age people hanging out in pedantic places. Some of the hidden observations of our unnamed narrator are just so, sweetly placed in small pockets of the book. For example, the observation of the child psychologist's office they take daughter Jenna too along with the sarcastic exposition of all doctors being assholes. Even some of the mundane ordinary runnings of a household under Millicent's anal supervision come alive at times.
HOWEVER...the author misses many opportunities to actually flay open her characters and provide readers with ANY insight into narrator's marriage, family life or even motivations for any of his or his wife's actions. We are left with the obvious arrangement- wife is a psychopath devoid of feeling who becomes the central focus of blame for this narrator. In the beginning of the plot the author tries to set us up to understand the deep nuances of his love and obsession with Millicent. However, all we get is a rather boyish wonder, desire he feels towards this enigma of a woman dressed up in cheesy stories of meeting in an airport/on a plane. The few inside jokes they share that give some color to their relationship are not very helpful in giving a big picture of WHO the narrator is and WHO his wife is. Maybe that's the point but instead of leaving us with tearing questions about Millicent, we're saved all that because the author neatly ties up her character development with the final blow- she's just your average, run of the mill psychopath. There are a few moments where the author probes beneath the surface to explore the idea of the Madonna-Whore trope. For example he comments " what I found sexy in my wife was horrifying in my daughter." BUT THE AUTHOR STOPS THERE. No further delving into those parallels or the complex issues tied up in how men view their wives but cannot grant personhood to their daughters. In fact, the entire dialogue about women is one dimensional. We get no exposition of Millicent in any terms other than the narrow view of her complicit, deeply insecure husband. We see no further light shone on the women who could be complex and outstanding supporting/central characters such as the work horse detective, Clare. Instead we're just told she's a "bitch" according to war torn veteran reporter, Josh. We also get no lens on the narrator's uninteresting teenage daughter who honestly straddles the line between impossibly petulant and infantilized toddler? Both children are decidedly uninteresting and their subpar plotlines seem like gruel to stretch the thin main plotline into an extra 100 pages. How can I care about these two people's asshole kids when I have no insight into why the TWO OF THEM ARE EVEN ASSHOLES?? No exploration into anything other than boring, middle class lives with boring family histories interspersed with some money problems--not enough to explain why they would want to engage in a sick murder sex game?? What about swinging? NO INTEREST IN TRYING THAT FIRST?? STRAIGHT TO MURDER?? BDSM?? ANY MIDDLE GROUND BEFORE ESCALATING TO STRAIGHT TORTURE/MURDER?
The complete lack of character development extends not only to Millicent and the children but also to the supporting cast of characters.
Narrator lives in Kekhona's home for the last half of the book and gains no insight to who she is as a person? Just describes the shape of her walls and her tv room? No rustling through personal belongings or probing into who this woman is especially since she helps defend his honor and save him from jail in the epilogue??? Furthermore, two pretty central supporting cast members hardly get ANY screen time- we jump straight from "here are are boring middle aged couple friends Andy and Trish. He has a belly she seems like she married him for status." YAWN- cut to she kills herself, is a central plot point revealing details about the supposed returned serial killer and now he feels guilty about her suicide and enlists her bereaved husband to help him clear his name? How do we jump to Trish feeling sooooo guilty she hangs herself because she dated a man who is now allegedly killing people?? none of this makes sense. It just adds to the sensationalism in an attempt to cheaply further plot. How does Andy come back as a starring role as friend of when narrator originally has a tone of contempt for him and his paunchy belly?
Finally, we are left with a book with zero illuminating things to say about family, privilege, women. The snivelly narrator sucks all that energy away. His sentimentalism and perpetual gullibility comes up as he attempts to narrate his own life in a sum of rearview mirror memories of ordinariness. This sentimental kind of writing does nothing except reveal the author herself, posing as some weighty literary thinker. We waste so much time trying to understand this man who is clearly seeking external validation from EVERYONE including his children and takes ZERO responsibility for any of his actions in this nightmare. He blames LITERALLY everything on his wife and her psychoses refusing to acknowledge that he DID cheat on his wife, he DID stalk women to KILL and was COMPLICIT in aiding his wife to commit these atrocious murders. His pretend HORROR as he looks back at his wife's crimes are laughable because BUDDY, YOU WANTED THIS. YOU GOT IT. Just because you're too stupid/enamored/weak willed to acknowledge your crimes does NOT absolve you from them. The lack of justice he receives is shocking and kind of gross.
Not to mention the completely unrealistic dialogue between a married couple fighting and resolving their fight in minutes especially with everything at stake and their lives hanging in the balance. This man is delusional and I know he's delusional because if he is as mushy about his wife as the book claims then he's not actually a psychopath and knows that his "we're gonna be fine," platitudes that the couple exchange are BS. He also constantly vacillates between complete trust in his wife that she got away with these crime scot free no evidence and simultaneous disbelief that she would commit any of these crimes. SO DO YOU KNOW HER OR DON'T YOU?
Suffice it to say, read this if you want a masterclass in how to write an average, mass consumed thriller. OR to bang your head against a wall for all the squandered potential that the author abandons in favor of wringing out a fast paced, obvious "fun read."
Maybe I'm picky.
There are some shining moments of literary insight. The description of the cat and mouse game played with Tobias and his prospective murder candidates- it is alluring and could be fleshed out with a few more subtleties to be truly lyrical. The first few bar scenes between Tobias and Petra shine, the description of a bar which is "for drinkers, by drinkers, a place where everyone is too inebriated for details," is deftly snuggled into other tired descriptions of middle age people hanging out in pedantic places. Some of the hidden observations of our unnamed narrator are just so, sweetly placed in small pockets of the book. For example, the observation of the child psychologist's office they take daughter Jenna too along with the sarcastic exposition of all doctors being assholes. Even some of the mundane ordinary runnings of a household under Millicent's anal supervision come alive at times.
HOWEVER...the author misses many opportunities to actually flay open her characters and provide readers with ANY insight into narrator's marriage, family life or even motivations for any of his or his wife's actions. We are left with the obvious arrangement- wife is a psychopath devoid of feeling who becomes the central focus of blame for this narrator. In the beginning of the plot the author tries to set us up to understand the deep nuances of his love and obsession with Millicent. However, all we get is a rather boyish wonder, desire he feels towards this enigma of a woman dressed up in cheesy stories of meeting in an airport/on a plane. The few inside jokes they share that give some color to their relationship are not very helpful in giving a big picture of WHO the narrator is and WHO his wife is. Maybe that's the point but instead of leaving us with tearing questions about Millicent, we're saved all that because the author neatly ties up her character development with the final blow- she's just your average, run of the mill psychopath. There are a few moments where the author probes beneath the surface to explore the idea of the Madonna-Whore trope. For example he comments " what I found sexy in my wife was horrifying in my daughter." BUT THE AUTHOR STOPS THERE. No further delving into those parallels or the complex issues tied up in how men view their wives but cannot grant personhood to their daughters. In fact, the entire dialogue about women is one dimensional. We get no exposition of Millicent in any terms other than the narrow view of her complicit, deeply insecure husband. We see no further light shone on the women who could be complex and outstanding supporting/central characters such as the work horse detective, Clare. Instead we're just told she's a "bitch" according to war torn veteran reporter, Josh. We also get no lens on the narrator's uninteresting teenage daughter who honestly straddles the line between impossibly petulant and infantilized toddler? Both children are decidedly uninteresting and their subpar plotlines seem like gruel to stretch the thin main plotline into an extra 100 pages. How can I care about these two people's asshole kids when I have no insight into why the TWO OF THEM ARE EVEN ASSHOLES?? No exploration into anything other than boring, middle class lives with boring family histories interspersed with some money problems--not enough to explain why they would want to engage in a sick murder sex game?? What about swinging? NO INTEREST IN TRYING THAT FIRST?? STRAIGHT TO MURDER?? BDSM?? ANY MIDDLE GROUND BEFORE ESCALATING TO STRAIGHT TORTURE/MURDER?
The complete lack of character development extends not only to Millicent and the children but also to the supporting cast of characters.
Narrator lives in Kekhona's home for the last half of the book and gains no insight to who she is as a person? Just describes the shape of her walls and her tv room? No rustling through personal belongings or probing into who this woman is especially since she helps defend his honor and save him from jail in the epilogue??? Furthermore, two pretty central supporting cast members hardly get ANY screen time- we jump straight from "here are are boring middle aged couple friends Andy and Trish. He has a belly she seems like she married him for status." YAWN- cut to she kills herself, is a central plot point revealing details about the supposed returned serial killer and now he feels guilty about her suicide and enlists her bereaved husband to help him clear his name? How do we jump to Trish feeling sooooo guilty she hangs herself because she dated a man who is now allegedly killing people?? none of this makes sense. It just adds to the sensationalism in an attempt to cheaply further plot. How does Andy come back as a starring role as friend of when narrator originally has a tone of contempt for him and his paunchy belly?
Finally, we are left with a book with zero illuminating things to say about family, privilege, women. The snivelly narrator sucks all that energy away. His sentimentalism and perpetual gullibility comes up as he attempts to narrate his own life in a sum of rearview mirror memories of ordinariness. This sentimental kind of writing does nothing except reveal the author herself, posing as some weighty literary thinker. We waste so much time trying to understand this man who is clearly seeking external validation from EVERYONE including his children and takes ZERO responsibility for any of his actions in this nightmare. He blames LITERALLY everything on his wife and her psychoses refusing to acknowledge that he DID cheat on his wife, he DID stalk women to KILL and was COMPLICIT in aiding his wife to commit these atrocious murders. His pretend HORROR as he looks back at his wife's crimes are laughable because BUDDY, YOU WANTED THIS. YOU GOT IT. Just because you're too stupid/enamored/weak willed to acknowledge your crimes does NOT absolve you from them. The lack of justice he receives is shocking and kind of gross.
Not to mention the completely unrealistic dialogue between a married couple fighting and resolving their fight in minutes especially with everything at stake and their lives hanging in the balance. This man is delusional and I know he's delusional because if he is as mushy about his wife as the book claims then he's not actually a psychopath and knows that his "we're gonna be fine," platitudes that the couple exchange are BS. He also constantly vacillates between complete trust in his wife that she got away with these crime scot free no evidence and simultaneous disbelief that she would commit any of these crimes. SO DO YOU KNOW HER OR DON'T YOU?
Suffice it to say, read this if you want a masterclass in how to write an average, mass consumed thriller. OR to bang your head against a wall for all the squandered potential that the author abandons in favor of wringing out a fast paced, obvious "fun read."
4.5 stars. this story was bone chilling. every time i put it down within the last 100 pages, i had to pick it back up because i had to know just how bad shit was actually gonna go for mr unnamed narrator man. 5 stars for entertainment value but no, i’ve decided that bad people do need to be punished even if they’re not *the worst* person comparatively, so -.5 for WHAT IS THE LESSON HERE!
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A