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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3/4’s of the way through is when you can see the pieces fitting! A great story, keeps you guessing, hard to put down .
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Perfect Life Can Hide The Perfect Lie!
3.5.
The novel juggled three equally intriguing and compelling timelines:
THEN: July 2019 – Two years ago Erin Kennedy met the love of her life, Detective Danny Ryan, and the pair married six months later. It’s an ordinary morning in their household, as they get ready for work, and they’re both in high spirits, looking forward to their upcoming planned weekend away. Then a knock on the door changes everything. Erin opens it to Danny’s partner Ben, and two other police officers. Sensing her husband behind her, Erin turns, and then watches in frozen disbelief as he steps through the French windows onto the balcony of their fourth floor apartment, and jumps.
NOW: December 2020 – Sees Erin on trial for the murder of her husband!?
December 2016 – Ally Summers, a proctor at Harvard University is worried about Freshman student, Lauren Gregory. She hasn’t been to class in a few days.
Hands down one of the most baffling and unsettling domestic noir premises I’ve ever come across, and the first few pages more than lived up to the book blurb. Subsequent chapters saw me trying and failing to work out how Erin was being charged with a murder that was clearly a suicide? She’d been on the other side of the room, in full view of three witnesses, so couldn’t have pushed him. I was utterly bewildered, and I loved it. I had no clue how the Ally and Lauren storyline related to the main plot either.
The characters were believable, captivating, relatable, and overall likeable, especially Erin’s palpable grief which definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Having read Jo Spain before, this novel was written in her usual clear, concise, and enthralling style.
Unfortunately, the fact that it was overly long and drawn out was its ultimate downfall, because several characters continuing evasiveness sadly gave me too much time to dwell on why, so by the 60% I knew what was coming. Figuring out the main twists in a mystery thriller is never a good thing, so I’ve had to rate it accordingly.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, Quercus Books, and Jo Spain for the e-ARC.
3.5.
The novel juggled three equally intriguing and compelling timelines:
THEN: July 2019 – Two years ago Erin Kennedy met the love of her life, Detective Danny Ryan, and the pair married six months later. It’s an ordinary morning in their household, as they get ready for work, and they’re both in high spirits, looking forward to their upcoming planned weekend away. Then a knock on the door changes everything. Erin opens it to Danny’s partner Ben, and two other police officers. Sensing her husband behind her, Erin turns, and then watches in frozen disbelief as he steps through the French windows onto the balcony of their fourth floor apartment, and jumps.
NOW: December 2020 – Sees Erin on trial for the murder of her husband!?
December 2016 – Ally Summers, a proctor at Harvard University is worried about Freshman student, Lauren Gregory. She hasn’t been to class in a few days.
Hands down one of the most baffling and unsettling domestic noir premises I’ve ever come across, and the first few pages more than lived up to the book blurb. Subsequent chapters saw me trying and failing to work out how Erin was being charged with a murder that was clearly a suicide? She’d been on the other side of the room, in full view of three witnesses, so couldn’t have pushed him. I was utterly bewildered, and I loved it. I had no clue how the Ally and Lauren storyline related to the main plot either.
The characters were believable, captivating, relatable, and overall likeable, especially Erin’s palpable grief which definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Having read Jo Spain before, this novel was written in her usual clear, concise, and enthralling style.
Unfortunately, the fact that it was overly long and drawn out was its ultimate downfall, because several characters continuing evasiveness sadly gave me too much time to dwell on why, so by the 60% I knew what was coming. Figuring out the main twists in a mystery thriller is never a good thing, so I’ve had to rate it accordingly.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, Quercus Books, and Jo Spain for the e-ARC.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First I was confused and a bit annoyed by the illogical plot, but when I came to the second half of the book I understood that this was all on me, because it explained the trial in a way that made me say ‘aaaah’ out loud in my head. I didn’t love the writing style, but the twist and cleverness of it won me over.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Rape, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Police brutality