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A review by ahomelibrary
Reputation by Sarah Vaughan
3.0
Book Review — Reputation by Sarah Vaughan (2022, Atria Books)
Note: I won a review copy from a Goodreads raffle. Thank you to GR + publisher.
Categories: Psychological Thriller, Political Thriller, Suspense, Crime
Topics: Politics (UK), revenge p* and victims’ experiences, motherhood, cyber crimes
Summary: The bestselling author of “Anatomy of a Scandal” returns with a psychological thriller about a politician whose personal life + preteen’s costly mistake is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.
Emma is the main POV character. She’s a divorced British MP with a preteen daughter, Flora. The story follows her experience as a female MP facing online abuse, especially after gaining attention from a poorly received interview + championing policy change after a constituent was the victim of revenge p (don’t want to get flagged).
Meanwhile, her preteen daughter is also facing bullying and online abuse from her schoolmates. She retaliates and crosses a legal line; her actions may become a public scandal. It’s when a journalist is found dead in her mom’s home that the cost of protecting a reputation is calculated. The story then moves into a courtroom setting.
My thoughts: I thought this would be right up my alley being a UK politics thriller. I think it would’ve been better as a miniseries. Its underpinnings are interesting and timely: 1) more personal cyber crime (bullying etc) is hard to prevent or prosecute uniformly and policy, or its implementation/understanding, doesn’t often match the modernity of the issues and 2) the poor experiences of MPs online have recently been highlighted by high profile politicians receiving threats and even being killed.
The execution wasn’t the best for me. I’d describe this as a domestic/political drama before a thriller. I felt like this was someone’s first book but it clearly isn’t, as the author has a hit one which I still fully intend to read and watch. There’s a lot of repetition + some things feel shoehorned into a plot that comes across paranoid rather than suspenseful. Yet, at the end of the day, I think it is still a decent attempt to shed light on tangible issues.
Note: I won a review copy from a Goodreads raffle. Thank you to GR + publisher.
Categories: Psychological Thriller, Political Thriller, Suspense, Crime
Topics: Politics (UK), revenge p* and victims’ experiences, motherhood, cyber crimes
Summary: The bestselling author of “Anatomy of a Scandal” returns with a psychological thriller about a politician whose personal life + preteen’s costly mistake is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.
Emma is the main POV character. She’s a divorced British MP with a preteen daughter, Flora. The story follows her experience as a female MP facing online abuse, especially after gaining attention from a poorly received interview + championing policy change after a constituent was the victim of revenge p (don’t want to get flagged).
Meanwhile, her preteen daughter is also facing bullying and online abuse from her schoolmates. She retaliates and crosses a legal line; her actions may become a public scandal. It’s when a journalist is found dead in her mom’s home that the cost of protecting a reputation is calculated. The story then moves into a courtroom setting.
My thoughts: I thought this would be right up my alley being a UK politics thriller. I think it would’ve been better as a miniseries. Its underpinnings are interesting and timely: 1) more personal cyber crime (bullying etc) is hard to prevent or prosecute uniformly and policy, or its implementation/understanding, doesn’t often match the modernity of the issues and 2) the poor experiences of MPs online have recently been highlighted by high profile politicians receiving threats and even being killed.
The execution wasn’t the best for me. I’d describe this as a domestic/political drama before a thriller. I felt like this was someone’s first book but it clearly isn’t, as the author has a hit one which I still fully intend to read and watch. There’s a lot of repetition + some things feel shoehorned into a plot that comes across paranoid rather than suspenseful. Yet, at the end of the day, I think it is still a decent attempt to shed light on tangible issues.