A review by btg
Verity by Colleen Hoover

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Holy. Crap. 

I just finished and...that ending. I won't spoil it, but Hooper is a master of plot twists. I thought the plot was going to be predictable until that ending. Good. God. 

Hooper's strength is giving you characters that you want to love, want to root for, and then just...making them sit right on the edge of doing things that would make you stop loving them. Her characters are complex, fascinating, and rooted in the dark tone of the novel. While I tend to personally like my novels much lighter, for people who enjoy this kind of reading, you'll love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Child death, Chronic illness, Vomit, Grief, Death, and Abortion

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Death of parent

Explanations: Sexual Content: boy is it graphic, and literally every other chapter. Thankfully 90% of it is NOT plot-relevant, but there's so much of it that it isn't strictly skimmable Murder:

A major character is murdered in the climax of the novel. A large portion of the plot is devoted to whether a major character murdered a different character prior to the beginning of the book. There's also speculation that THAT character murdered yet another character, though the speculation is unlikely to be accurate. At the end of the novel, there is speculation that a major character attempted murder multiple times on a different major character prior to the beginning of the novel, though the accuracy of the accusation is questionable.

Multiple murder attempts are also described

though it is unclear they actually happened.

Child death: a backstory for a major character involves the death of both of his young daughters. The investigation of those deaths drives the plot. Chronic illness: A major character has a severe TBI and is portrayed as either being in a vegetative state or having locked-in syndrome, with no one sure which.

The climax reveals that she is faking

but several issues related to her care are discussed. V-word: The protagonist occasionally v-words due to disturbing events. One chapter describes an infant v-wording. Grief: Multiple characters grieve the loss of two children who die prior to the start of the book, which largely drives the plot. The protagonist loses her mother prior to the start of the book, but this is touched upon very little after the plot gets going. Death:

a major character is murdered at the climax of the novel

. One of the themes of the book is dealing with grief, and multiple characters deal with deaths of family members (including children, see above). The novel opens with a very graphic scene of the death of a character not named by the novel. Abortion: A major character is described as attempting to abort a pregnancy graphically. It is unsuccessful.

It is also unclear whether or not this actually happened.

Panic Attacks/Disorders: The protagonist has panic attacks during the novel, though they aren't described in death. She takes Xanex. While showing some features of Panic Disorder, it's never explicitly named. Schizophrenia/Psychosis:

Throughout the novel, a major character is described as signs of having peripartum delusions that make her a danger to others. It is unclear whether or not this actually happened in the book timeline, but they are described if never directly stated to be such

Suicidal thoughts:

A major character is implied to have intentionally engaged in a suicide attempt

using language reminiscent of suicidal ideation,

though it is unclear whether she was genuinely suicidal or trying to get out of a dangerous situation

Cancer: The protagonist loses her parent to cancer at the start of the novel, and some of the caretaking involved is described before the plot really begins. Death of a parent: The protagonist loses her mother prior to the start of the novel, with little influence on the plot other than inspiring her to take the inciting incident seriously.