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A review by melhara
Something She's Not Telling Us by Darcey Bell
1.0
I debated whether or not to DNF this but powered through… what a waste of 9.5hrs of my life.
I normally love a thriller with an unreliable narrator and imperfect characters. But I'm not even sure I can classify this book as a thriller because there was no suspense. No excitement. No mystery.
In [b:Something She's Not Telling Us|46178726|Something She's Not Telling Us|Darcey Bell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560159753l/46178726._SY75_.jpg|69226763], Charlotte goes to pick her daughter up from school only to find out she's not there. Turns out, her brother's girlfriend, Ruth, had already picked her up. Charlotte, who absolutely hates Ruth, believes that Ruth is attempting to kidnap her daughter. Charlotte thinks there's something off about Ruth - that she can't be trusted because there's something she's not telling them (hence the title).
What I didn't like about this book:
- The pacing. It was so slow.
- The alternating POVs. This book alternates POVs between Ruth, Charlotte, occasionally Rocco (Charlotte's brother), and a POV from a random character called Vanessa. I felt like these POVs were unnecessary and didn't add much to the story. If anything, alternating between Ruth and Charlotte would probably have sufficed (to establish the fact that they were unreliable narrators).
- The unlikeable characters. Each alternating POV made me like the characters less and less. They were all annoying, petty, and selfish.
- Zero character development. The story would briefly mention Charlotte's jealousy towards Ruth and Daisy's relationship, or Ruth's constant need to lie, or Rocco's drinking problem, but never go any deeper than that. There's no clear reason as to why they're this way, nor do their behaviours change or improve as the story progresses. We're just supposed to accept the fact that these people are flawed for no reason at all and cannot be changed.
- Alternating between past and present. The story also alternates between present-day (when Ruth took Daisy) and a few months earlier (when Charlotte meets Ruth for the first time). I felt like the constant back and forth took away from the suspense and made the novel rather boring.
- The anticlimactic ending. I can't believe a sat through a 9.5hr audiobook for an open-ended ending that didn't even attempt to resolve any of the character's deeper and more personal issues.
- The improbable ending. Ok, most of this book was implausible (but I find that's usually the case with thrillers, so I'll let that slide) but the ending just didn't make any sense to me.
tl;dr - Honestly, I don't even know what this book is about because it was all over the place, which was made evident by the constant change in perspectives and timelines. I also didn't like the characters and I absolutely hated the ending. I would not recommend this book.
I normally love a thriller with an unreliable narrator and imperfect characters. But I'm not even sure I can classify this book as a thriller because there was no suspense. No excitement. No mystery.
In [b:Something She's Not Telling Us|46178726|Something She's Not Telling Us|Darcey Bell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560159753l/46178726._SY75_.jpg|69226763], Charlotte goes to pick her daughter up from school only to find out she's not there. Turns out, her brother's girlfriend, Ruth, had already picked her up. Charlotte, who absolutely hates Ruth, believes that Ruth is attempting to kidnap her daughter. Charlotte thinks there's something off about Ruth - that she can't be trusted because there's something she's not telling them (hence the title).
What I didn't like about this book:
- The pacing. It was so slow.
- The alternating POVs. This book alternates POVs between Ruth, Charlotte, occasionally Rocco (Charlotte's brother), and a POV from a random character called Vanessa. I felt like these POVs were unnecessary and didn't add much to the story. If anything, alternating between Ruth and Charlotte would probably have sufficed (to establish the fact that they were unreliable narrators).
- The unlikeable characters. Each alternating POV made me like the characters less and less. They were all annoying, petty, and selfish.
- Zero character development. The story would briefly mention Charlotte's jealousy towards Ruth and Daisy's relationship, or Ruth's constant need to lie, or Rocco's drinking problem, but never go any deeper than that. There's no clear reason as to why they're this way, nor do their behaviours change or improve as the story progresses. We're just supposed to accept the fact that these people are flawed for no reason at all and cannot be changed.
- Alternating between past and present. The story also alternates between present-day (when Ruth took Daisy) and a few months earlier (when Charlotte meets Ruth for the first time). I felt like the constant back and forth took away from the suspense and made the novel rather boring.
- The anticlimactic ending. I can't believe a sat through a 9.5hr audiobook for an open-ended ending that didn't even attempt to resolve any of the character's deeper and more personal issues.
- The improbable ending. Ok, most of this book was implausible (but I find that's usually the case with thrillers, so I'll let that slide) but the ending just didn't make any sense to me.
Spoiler
When Charlotte found Ruth, she ran over and gave the woman a hug. She hugged the woman she despises. The woman who had kidnapped and possibly traumatized her daughter. Who would do that? Also, Ruth just suddenly goes from talking to her dead grandparents to realizing that she's crazy? How did she come to that realization? What made her snap out of her delusion?tl;dr - Honestly, I don't even know what this book is about because it was all over the place, which was made evident by the constant change in perspectives and timelines. I also didn't like the characters and I absolutely hated the ending. I would not recommend this book.