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mschuyler64 's review for:
The Wife Upstairs
by Rachel Hawkins
(2.5 ⭐️s)
i'm sorry to the author and to anyone who thought this book was brilliant, but there were a RIDICULOUS amount of logistical impossibilities that distracted me from the story and made the book super underwhelming. i don't have time to unpack them all, but perhaps most notably, the author did apparently no research on panic rooms or she would know that you cannot get locked in one against your will (why would these rooms be useful if designed so that an intruder you're hiding from could lock you in your hiding place??) and are not designed with enough oxygen access to safely host someone for more than a day or two max, certainly not almost a year. consistent and substantial overnights like these made the mysteries that were supposed to be so mind-boggling feel silly and poorly constructed.
i also think this is misclassified as a thriller because there was nothing particularly thrilling about it. even during the story's climax when jane believes the man she's living with/about to marry killed a woman and locked another up in his house for almost a year, there is no terror or urgency from her as one would expect in such a pivotal moment.
finally, many of the story's twists seemed expected and unoriginal. this may be attributable to the fact that I've been reading more thrillers than usual recently, but i was hoping for something a little more novel (no pun intended lol).
i'm sorry to the author and to anyone who thought this book was brilliant, but there were a RIDICULOUS amount of logistical impossibilities that distracted me from the story and made the book super underwhelming. i don't have time to unpack them all, but perhaps most notably, the author did apparently no research on panic rooms or she would know that you cannot get locked in one against your will (why would these rooms be useful if designed so that an intruder you're hiding from could lock you in your hiding place??) and are not designed with enough oxygen access to safely host someone for more than a day or two max, certainly not almost a year. consistent and substantial overnights like these made the mysteries that were supposed to be so mind-boggling feel silly and poorly constructed.
i also think this is misclassified as a thriller because there was nothing particularly thrilling about it. even during the story's climax when jane believes the man she's living with/about to marry killed a woman and locked another up in his house for almost a year, there is no terror or urgency from her as one would expect in such a pivotal moment.
finally, many of the story's twists seemed expected and unoriginal. this may be attributable to the fact that I've been reading more thrillers than usual recently, but i was hoping for something a little more novel (no pun intended lol).