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goldenbeebookshop 's review for:
The Night Before
by Wendy Walker
This book packs a lot of questions and red herrings into the first three quarters of the story- making it fun to guess what exactly is going on, and what's motivating the myriad of characters that we meet.
But as much of the story feels like deception for deception's sake- which can be a delicious treat, when the truths of the story start getting unraveled I felt like there was a vague sense of a disconnect, like the boy who cried wolf, by the time I could see who the wolf was, it almost felt as though I couldn't believe it.
I did find it interesting that the book explores how the narratives we write for ourselves are often vastly different than the narratives people are making up about us- the way a sister sees you, versus a father, or a lover, and of course how we see ourselves. There isn't a deep dive into how trauma effects those narratives, but enough to be a realistic motivator for the central characters.
Overall I'd recommend this book for readers who enjoy crazy guessing games and unreliable characters. I read it while on vacation and it was fun world to dip into whenever I had some downtime.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an early copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
But as much of the story feels like deception for deception's sake- which can be a delicious treat, when the truths of the story start getting unraveled I felt like there was a vague sense of a disconnect, like the boy who cried wolf, by the time I could see who the wolf was, it almost felt as though I couldn't believe it.
I did find it interesting that the book explores how the narratives we write for ourselves are often vastly different than the narratives people are making up about us- the way a sister sees you, versus a father, or a lover, and of course how we see ourselves. There isn't a deep dive into how trauma effects those narratives, but enough to be a realistic motivator for the central characters.
Overall I'd recommend this book for readers who enjoy crazy guessing games and unreliable characters. I read it while on vacation and it was fun world to dip into whenever I had some downtime.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an early copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.