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A review by diana_blackmoon
Land of the Living by Nicci French
dark
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book and I got on the wrong foot from the start.
After some basic setting, there is a scene where a character goes to the psychologist. It is heavily implied that if she did not she would be protected by police due to her claims of a harmful person existing somewhere. Now, why would that be you ask? Because the psychologist/psychiatrist looks at her medical history and finds out she was taking antidepressants in college. This fact is very heavy-handed and the main character is accused of lying and fantasising. I understand it was a plot device for the book to work but I was not too fond of it. I continued the book when a similar thing happened again. No one reports a person missing because she used to have depressive episodes and sometimes she withdrew from the world. When someone tried to report her missing the police it didn't work either.
By now I was really annoyed about those two elements and felt like maybe it should have more commentary on how harming is to view mental illness like this. Instead, the only person that got scolded in the end was a policeman that had no specialist knowledge and believed the verdict of a professional. The psychiatrist is never confronted. Never mentioned again.
I was surprised that the book was published in 2003.
After some basic setting, there is a scene where a character goes to the psychologist. It is heavily implied that if she did not she would be protected by police due to her claims of a harmful person existing somewhere. Now, why would that be you ask? Because the psychologist/psychiatrist looks at her medical history and finds out she was taking antidepressants in college. This fact is very heavy-handed and the main character is accused of lying and fantasising. I understand it was a plot device for the book to work but I was not too fond of it. I continued the book when a similar thing happened again. No one reports a person missing because she used to have depressive episodes and sometimes she withdrew from the world. When someone tried to report her missing the police it didn't work either.
By now I was really annoyed about those two elements and felt like maybe it should have more commentary on how harming is to view mental illness like this. Instead, the only person that got scolded in the end was a policeman that had no specialist knowledge and believed the verdict of a professional. The psychiatrist is never confronted. Never mentioned again.
I was surprised that the book was published in 2003.