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jeanniemo1's review
1.0
Sorry, but I detested this book. After the first 70 pages, I thought, “I CANNOT CONTINUE READING THIS BOOK!” I hate not finishing something. So I read the last 20 pages, and didn’t miss a thing. Don’t waste your time. I couldn’t suffer through a stupid person making stupid after stupid decision. Done and done.
mayarelmahdy's review
4.0
I could not stop reading this.
It's like YOU but more desperate and faster. Cassie's in love with a made-up version of some random guy. It's a classic obsessive person falling in love with actual trash story.
The last 10 chapters go off in a new direction. It's pretty expected but still makes you gasp once it happens.
I really liked this. Glad I picked it up.
It's like YOU but more desperate and faster. Cassie's in love with a made-up version of some random guy. It's a classic obsessive person falling in love with actual trash story.
The last 10 chapters go off in a new direction. It's pretty expected but still makes you gasp once it happens.
I really liked this. Glad I picked it up.
lyzz's review
5.0
Do you live in Outlook all day like me? What if I told you that this book is one of the best thrillers, I have read all year and focuses on email, and is set in a dreary conference room with a bunch of temps? Would you believe me? Maybe you will just have to read this one for yourself!
Cassie Woodson is a temp for a law firm, reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. Cassie does not have much going on in her life – no family, no friends, no love life. But then an email between one of the partners, Forest Watts, and his wife Annabelle catches her eye and lights her obsession.
Three words to describe this book: Page-turner. Obsession. Email.
Cover: This is probably one thing I did not like about this book. I love the blue and purple hues. It just did not draw me into the novel.
Character Development: Cassie has a significant amount of character development including her relationship with her father, her humiliating firing at her previous firm, and her previous relationships. I felt like it was just the right amount that helped build the plot but not deter from the pace.
World-Building: This book is set in New York but not on the glitzy side. Most of the novel takes place in a conference room with Cassie reading messages. I very much got a sense of place from this novel.
Plot & Pacing: The plot and pacing were spot-on. I devoured this book. There are some decent twists, and the ending was a bit of a surprise for me. I ended up reading the last half of the book in one sitting which is really rare for me.
Verdict: I know it does not sound like a book about a temp reviewing emails would be the perfect beach read – but it is! You need to pack this book for your summer adventures.
This book will be published on July 27, 2021.
ARC was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press, in exchange for an honest review.
Cassie Woodson is a temp for a law firm, reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. Cassie does not have much going on in her life – no family, no friends, no love life. But then an email between one of the partners, Forest Watts, and his wife Annabelle catches her eye and lights her obsession.
Three words to describe this book: Page-turner. Obsession. Email.
Cover: This is probably one thing I did not like about this book. I love the blue and purple hues. It just did not draw me into the novel.
Character Development: Cassie has a significant amount of character development including her relationship with her father, her humiliating firing at her previous firm, and her previous relationships. I felt like it was just the right amount that helped build the plot but not deter from the pace.
World-Building: This book is set in New York but not on the glitzy side. Most of the novel takes place in a conference room with Cassie reading messages. I very much got a sense of place from this novel.
Plot & Pacing: The plot and pacing were spot-on. I devoured this book. There are some decent twists, and the ending was a bit of a surprise for me. I ended up reading the last half of the book in one sitting which is really rare for me.
Verdict: I know it does not sound like a book about a temp reviewing emails would be the perfect beach read – but it is! You need to pack this book for your summer adventures.
This book will be published on July 27, 2021.
ARC was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press, in exchange for an honest review.
monikasbookblog's review
4.0
I don’t know why, but stories with characters who are obsessive, stalking and possessive fascinate me. I’m not crazy, its just that these themes make a good psychological thriller. If you have read the synopsis you know what this book is about. But what you don’t know, is the creative writing that makes us readers sympathise and even agree with the protagonist’s pov. Sound familiar? Yes fans of YOU and Joe Goldberg, we got a female Joe. Might even be my favourite read of August 2021.
Thank you Ballantine Random House via Netgalley for the e-arc.
Thank you Ballantine Random House via Netgalley for the e-arc.
julia_may's review
3.0
It's more of a 3.5 stars.
There's a mystery/thriller element but it doesn't come into play until the last quarter or so. For most of the story, it's a slow burning unravelling of an unhinged woman called Cassie, who, catching a glimpse of a stranger's emails to his wife, goes full on crazy stalker. It's entertaining and there are plenty (maybe too many?) uncomfortable moments when she is about to get caught doing something she shouldn't... And then she somehow manages squirm her way out of the situation.
With her stalky ways and overanxious personality she analyzes everyone to the Nth degree but how accurate are her perceptions and conclusions about various people? Not very, unsurprisingly. Cassie has tunnel vision but the reader catches glimpses of things that don't add up and it adds to the sense of growing unease. It's kind of like an impending trainwreck in a book form - you just know things won't end well and want to look away but cannot.
Kudos to the author for bringing something unusual to the oversaturated samey genre.
There's a mystery/thriller element but it doesn't come into play until the last quarter or so. For most of the story, it's a slow burning unravelling of an unhinged woman called Cassie, who, catching a glimpse of a stranger's emails to his wife, goes full on crazy stalker. It's entertaining and there are plenty (maybe too many?) uncomfortable moments when she is about to get caught doing something she shouldn't... And then she somehow manages squirm her way out of the situation.
With her stalky ways and overanxious personality she analyzes everyone to the Nth degree but how accurate are her perceptions and conclusions about various people? Not very, unsurprisingly. Cassie has tunnel vision but the reader catches glimpses of things that don't add up and it adds to the sense of growing unease. It's kind of like an impending trainwreck in a book form - you just know things won't end well and want to look away but cannot.
Kudos to the author for bringing something unusual to the oversaturated samey genre.
energyrae's review against another edition
3.0
I confess this one had a slow start for me, and I almost gave up on it. Cassie’s obsession got repetitive in the day-to-day of her job. But after we hit roughly 40% in, the story really unfolds, and the pacing picks up. Cassie is the epitome of an unreliable narrator, and not just because we can’t trust what she says. She’s been self-medicating for so long her memory is sketchy at best. It’s exacerbated because bits of her past reveal in small doses, so we’re not exactly sure how we got here.
I wasn’t a fan of using newspaper articles late in the book to tell the story. As far as the characters, Cameron did a great job writing such an unstable character whose special brand of obsession went above and beyond. Thank you, Ballantine Books, for sending this along.
I wasn’t a fan of using newspaper articles late in the book to tell the story. As far as the characters, Cameron did a great job writing such an unstable character whose special brand of obsession went above and beyond. Thank you, Ballantine Books, for sending this along.
bookshelbs's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
za_'s review against another edition
I’m not rating this book b/c I skim read it and can’t decide if I didn’t like it, or just wasn’t in the mood for this type of book.
I’m thinking 2.5 stars.
The book is written from the POV of a woman who’s gone through some shit and mentally isn’t very nice to herself. Her dad dies of cancer, her bf breaks up with her. She has a mental break and attacks the bf, which sets her life on a totally different trajectory.
She starts working at a temp agency, clearly has a drinking problem. Her job is to review emails as part of a case, but one of the lawyers emails slips through and she becomes obsessed with him and his wife, eventually believing they are no longer together.
Her coworker ends up dead, supposed suicide. She has start to see the lawyer. She starts to put the pieces together. Coworker had found dirt on lawyer and was trying to blackmail him. Lawyer killed him. Lawyer and wife were still together and they were committing fraud.
Lawyer comes to kill main character. She escapes and he gets arrested.
She escapes to a new life, changes her name, but the book ends with her still having a distrust of her new partner.
I’m thinking 2.5 stars.
The book is written from the POV of a woman who’s gone through some shit and mentally isn’t very nice to herself. Her dad dies of cancer, her bf breaks up with her. She has a mental break and attacks the bf, which sets her life on a totally different trajectory.
She starts working at a temp agency, clearly has a drinking problem. Her job is to review emails as part of a case, but one of the lawyers emails slips through and she becomes obsessed with him and his wife, eventually believing they are no longer together.
Her coworker ends up dead, supposed suicide. She has start to see the lawyer. She starts to put the pieces together. Coworker had found dirt on lawyer and was trying to blackmail him. Lawyer killed him. Lawyer and wife were still together and they were committing fraud.
Lawyer comes to kill main character. She escapes and he gets arrested.
She escapes to a new life, changes her name, but the book ends with her still having a distrust of her new partner.
mayahall56's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
i don’t know if it’s because i was in a slump reading this, or what but i really coudlnt get into it. idk i just feel like some parts of it are random and rushed, and the ending is somewhat predictable. idk i just felt like the plot could never wrap me in. the characters were kinda rushed, and it was frustrating how they kept referencing theese past events with cassie that no one knew about