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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not bad. It's thought provoking. Love and lust are not the same. Lust can lead to obsession.
We are all broken into two halves and we spend our lives looking for our other self. Every affair we have, however stupid or trivial, has a bit of that hope that this might be it, our other self.
We're not interested in each other's worlds, each other's life. All that matters is us here, in this bed.
Marriage is about ordinary things, chores, boring duties, work, squabbles, sorting out squabbles. Everything. Not just... burning desire.
dark
emotional
reflective
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
I am in disbelief of Alice's character. To start off she is a successful scientist who had everything going for her. Good career, Jake her partner, friends, etc. Then Adam Tallis comes along and swept her off her feet. She broke things off with Jake and got engaged to Adam just a few days after they met. Threatening letters/calls come in and the first thing she did was accuse Jake whom she knew long before she knew Adam.
Luckily, after all the drama, she finally realises she married a psycho (perhaps). If i were her, I would have apologised to Jake for her utter nonsense.
Luckily, after all the drama, she finally realises she married a psycho (perhaps). If i were her, I would have apologised to Jake for her utter nonsense.
I should start by saying that I've read this book many, many times. For some reason, it never gets old to me -- and each time, I find something different to mull over.
Alice Loudon is like any one of us. A smart, successful, if somewhat boring woman in her late twenties-early thirties. She works as a Scientist and dates a smart, successful, if somewhat boring man named Jake. Everything is in order -- she has friends, she has a tidy apartment, she has "it all".
Until one day, when she's walking to work and everything stops. The world stops. This is, in the end, a novel about obsession. It begins with the moment that Alice first sees Adam, and almost immediately falls into bed with him -- she becomes obsessed, he becomes obsessed, and the world falls away.
Alice abandons her family, her friends, Jake, her job, and crucially, herself. She becomes thin, a little mad, a little bit unhinged, and yet -- she thinks that she is gloriously happy. She cannot imagine a time before Adam. He is intense, sexual, so unlike her former life -- and he enslaves her by the simple act of loving her -- to Alice, that is as potent of an attraction as there can be. Everything in her life has been so sedate until that moment, and Adam topples her carefully constructed existence as neatly as if he'd cleaved her in two with an axe.
Adam is a mountaineer -- very famous, very well respected -- as not too long before he'd met Alice, he'd been involved in a tragedy on a mountain called Chungawat, in which he'd saved the lives of many people involved in a "climbing tourism" exercise organized by his friend Greg. Adam's ex-girlfriend died on the mountain, but he's heralded as a hero, and multiple stories about him thrust him (and Alice) into a spotlight that neither of them want.
Here is when everything begins to unravel, slowly, insidiously.
As Alice becomes obsessed with the details of Adam's past lovers, their own sex life begins to spiral into a cycle of pain, dominance and submission -- sending Alice to the hospital at one point and (I believe) showing Adam for the sadistic rapist that he is -- but that Alice cannot accept that he is.
Allegations begin to crop up about Adam, threatening phone calls and notes arrive at their door step, details about the deaths on the mountain emerge, bodies pile up and Alice slides deeper and deeper into a madness that she cannot control. As the novel progresses, the reader feels as if they are walking on that tightrope with Alice -- on either side, destruction, death, the cold chill of Chungawat and the slow burning realization that Adam's beautiful blue eyes are those of a monster.
French's books are normally quite good, but this was a cut above the rest (her best, I believe, besides "Land of the Living"). Over the course of the book, although I felt frustration with Alice (Adam is so obviously a psycho and I think most people would recognize that), I couldn't help but feverishly follow her footsteps across the UK as she desperately seeks the truth.
In the end, it is the saddest story of all -- a love, a heart. Alice, forever changed and unable to blame anyone but herself -- as Jake points out, she burned her bridges so thoroughly and you can't help but feel that her relationship with Adam couldn't have ended any other way. Born from so much pain and betrayal, how else could it have gone?
Alice Loudon is like any one of us. A smart, successful, if somewhat boring woman in her late twenties-early thirties. She works as a Scientist and dates a smart, successful, if somewhat boring man named Jake. Everything is in order -- she has friends, she has a tidy apartment, she has "it all".
Until one day, when she's walking to work and everything stops. The world stops. This is, in the end, a novel about obsession. It begins with the moment that Alice first sees Adam, and almost immediately falls into bed with him -- she becomes obsessed, he becomes obsessed, and the world falls away.
Alice abandons her family, her friends, Jake, her job, and crucially, herself. She becomes thin, a little mad, a little bit unhinged, and yet -- she thinks that she is gloriously happy. She cannot imagine a time before Adam. He is intense, sexual, so unlike her former life -- and he enslaves her by the simple act of loving her -- to Alice, that is as potent of an attraction as there can be. Everything in her life has been so sedate until that moment, and Adam topples her carefully constructed existence as neatly as if he'd cleaved her in two with an axe.
Adam is a mountaineer -- very famous, very well respected -- as not too long before he'd met Alice, he'd been involved in a tragedy on a mountain called Chungawat, in which he'd saved the lives of many people involved in a "climbing tourism" exercise organized by his friend Greg. Adam's ex-girlfriend died on the mountain, but he's heralded as a hero, and multiple stories about him thrust him (and Alice) into a spotlight that neither of them want.
Here is when everything begins to unravel, slowly, insidiously.
As Alice becomes obsessed with the details of Adam's past lovers, their own sex life begins to spiral into a cycle of pain, dominance and submission -- sending Alice to the hospital at one point and (I believe) showing Adam for the sadistic rapist that he is -- but that Alice cannot accept that he is.
Allegations begin to crop up about Adam, threatening phone calls and notes arrive at their door step, details about the deaths on the mountain emerge, bodies pile up and Alice slides deeper and deeper into a madness that she cannot control. As the novel progresses, the reader feels as if they are walking on that tightrope with Alice -- on either side, destruction, death, the cold chill of Chungawat and the slow burning realization that Adam's beautiful blue eyes are those of a monster.
French's books are normally quite good, but this was a cut above the rest (her best, I believe, besides "Land of the Living"). Over the course of the book, although I felt frustration with Alice (Adam is so obviously a psycho and I think most people would recognize that), I couldn't help but feverishly follow her footsteps across the UK as she desperately seeks the truth.
In the end, it is the saddest story of all -- a love, a heart. Alice, forever changed and unable to blame anyone but herself -- as Jake points out, she burned her bridges so thoroughly and you can't help but feel that her relationship with Adam couldn't have ended any other way. Born from so much pain and betrayal, how else could it have gone?
This is a very interesting book. I've read it a number of times, because it's sort of wildly addictive and yet, there's this undercurrent of "this would never happen" that runs through it.
Adam is not appealing. I don't get it. He doesn't seem attractive, just possessive, jealous, icky and corny. The stuff he says, his unsmiling ways, just ugh. I never get what Alice sees in him. And even in the end, she believes he was in love with her.
I love the mountaineering side of this. One of my pet hobbies is reading about mountains and the people who climb them. It's a fantastic backdrop for a mystery.
Sylvie??? Seriously. Girl code was broken. Human code was shattered. What a POS.
Justice for poor little Sherpa.
Adam is not appealing. I don't get it. He doesn't seem attractive, just possessive, jealous, icky and corny. The stuff he says, his unsmiling ways, just ugh. I never get what Alice sees in him. And even in the end, she believes he was in love with her.
I love the mountaineering side of this. One of my pet hobbies is reading about mountains and the people who climb them. It's a fantastic backdrop for a mystery.
Sylvie??? Seriously. Girl code was broken. Human code was shattered. What a POS.
Justice for poor little Sherpa.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Sain haasteen lukea kirjahyllystäni siellä kauimmin lukuvuoroaan odottaneen dekkarin, se oli tämä. Turhaanpa olin tähän tarttumista lykännyt, sillä tämä oli oikein vetävä ja piinaava jännäri. Nykyaikaisemmista psykologisista trillereistä tämän erotti oikeastaan vain siitä, että uhkan tunnetta lisäsivät lankapuhelimeen tulleet nimettömät soitot :) Kansi ei mielestäni sovi kuvaamaan kirjan sisältöä ja tyylilajia.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nicci French is a master at building suspense, and this novel is no exception. Although Alice is not an entirely likable character—she pulls several deceptions over people to get at the truth—we can’t help but be on her side. See my complete review at this link: https://whatmeread.com/2024/06/11/review-2442-killing-me-softly/
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence
Minor: Animal death, Stalking, Murder