Reviews

Off the Deep End by Lucinda Berry

calliekay's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I flew through this. I was really interested in figuring out what was going on with so many aspects of this story, only end up thinking “wtf?” at the ending of this. I had so many theories that would have been so better than the real ending, unfortunately.

Also,
Spoiler did I miss the wrap up of who was actually kidnapping the other boys that Isaac was copycatting? I was almost positive it was Isaac’s Mom.

hkschorr's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

marusik_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

julia11's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I buddy read this with some friends and I really enjoyed the ride. I did not see a lot of the twists coming and it held my attention. The first bit was a little slow, and honestly both mothers in this got on my nerves. But once it picked up, I couldn't stop! We all finished the book early cause we had to know the ending.

I'd recommend checking trigger warnings, this does have a pretty heavy topic involved.

julia11's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Jules gets into a terrible accident with her son, Gabe and a neighbors child, Isaac. Jules life unravels after she loses Gabe. All the while, Isaacs household is dealing with his survival. He goes into a depression and its tearing his parents, Amber and Mark, apart seeing him so out of sorts. He ends up going missing. Amber is convinced it was Jules, but Jules is adamant she had nothing to do with it. We go along for the ride as they try to find Isaac before it's too late.

I buddy read this with some friends and I really enjoyed the ride. I did not see a lot of the twists coming and it held my attention. The first bit was a little slow, and honestly both mothers in this got on my nerves. But once it picked up, I couldn't stop! We all finished the book early cause we had to know the ending.

I'd recommend checking trigger warnings, this does have a pretty heavy topic involved.

hannahurky1's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

I don't really know where to start with this. It starts off as your typical mystery, Isaac Greer goes missing. But here's the catch, he survived a cat accident with Jules where her son died instead of him. This makes him loose his mind with survivors guilt. Then all of a sudden he's gone. Was he kidnapped? Did Jules take him? Did he run away? You don't know until the end. And that ride is insane to say the least. But the twists really started near the end. It felt like everything just hit me all at once. It was good, but also like extremely weird. My jaw was left open the entire time at the end. And honestly the end of the book just made me dislike every single character. But it was good and kept me guessing. And I honestly did not expect the ending at all. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bookish_withsky's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Lucinda Berry books feel like a fucked up guilty pleasure. I don't know how else to explain it. Everyone is bonkers and fucked up. It never goes exactly how you expect it to. If I didn't have to work or sleep, I'd probably have finished this immediately, but alas, I decided to start it at 12 am knowing full well I had to sleep and work. I think that worked to my benefit though. I seems like the kind of book you wouldn't like as much if you didn't have space from it.

yensidsunflower's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

mandi15jr's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

3.25

linnaboobooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Content warnings for car accident, loss of a child, grief, grooming, suicide attempt, school shooting.

Lucinda Berry's novels need to stop being only marketed as psychological thrillers. The more recent ones I've read might fall under the requirements to that subgenre of thrillers somewhat, but they more so focus on psychological and cerebral aspects with touches of a criminal case. This can skew expectations versus when reading the synopsis. Personally, I find this to fall into the psychological suspense category, the same way some of Sally Hepworth's works do.

After an accident that left her only child dead, Jules forms a strong connection with a former friend of his in her unstable mental state. After a series of uncomfortable incidents, Isaac's parents step in with a restraining order and not long after Isaac goes missing. Now she's in a group home, under the observation of a therapist.

Believed to be taken by a midwestern serial killer, it's hard to swallow that the teenager who has already been through one tragedy is going through another. And during this time Isaac's mother's Amber believes Jules is behind why her son's missing, and that it has nothing to do with the serial killer.

The suspense of Isaac being missing kept me speeding through this with a few different theories, I wasn't as invested in Jules's plot but the psychology of it interested me enough and disturbed by how unstable she became since the death of Gabe.