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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
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:
Yes
Driscoll has written an excellent standalone mystery that focuses on the challenges of a woman who has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
San Diego - Quinn is working hard to recover from a vicious assault that left her with a TBI. Her version of this injury involves forgetting new things and new people within about an hour. She attends a TBI therapy group and she is making some progress - she actually can remember the group leader now when she arrives, for example. Her method of coping involves writing lots of notes in a notebook that she carries around with her, extensive calendar reminders, alarms/reminders on her cell phone, labels of all sorts in her apartment, and so forth. Her job in a florist shop is one she treasures. Her boss, Jacinta, is sympathetic to Quinn’s issues and tries to help her as much as possible.
One night while closing up the florist shop, Quinn takes out the trash and sees something terrible. She writes detailed notes in her notebook before calling the police, because she knows that her memory is going to fade very quickly. But with no body and no crime scene evidence, the police aren’t inclined to believe Quinn.
Quinn also loves to sketch, and this proves to be a key factor in eventually helping figure out what actually happened. The author provides a lot of information about TBI along the way - sometimes it got in the way of the narrative, but it was still useful and interesting information.
I was caught up in this story right away and enjoyed the way Quinn and the detective who believes her, find their way to solving the crime. There’s a lot of San Diego color here. The Gaslamp neighborhood sounds like a cool place I’d like to visit!
Thank you to the author, Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story kept me engaged and wanting to know what would happen in the end. The characters were interesting and mostly likeable. There was a good amount of suspense, mystery and emotions.
The only issue I had was having a lack of connection or development of some characters which I felt were important.
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The only issue I had was having a lack of connection or development of some characters which I felt were important.
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.