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A review by tessa_talks_books
Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber
4.0
What's it about (in a nutshell):
Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber is a psychological thriller and, more importantly, a character study on how the allure of the entitled can take you on an unexpected journey into moral darkness. Whether or not you can return from this journey is one of the many poignant details the story explores.
Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
The cover doesn't give away anything. It's a home with one upstairs window lighted, and I can't tell if anyone is in that window. The blurb talked about a summer when a lot happened. The setting is a Villa in Florence, Italy – I love the sound of that. I also am intrigued by the mention of a deadly web of manipulation and desire. Overall, I expect an atmospheric thriller about wealthy people doing bad things.
Actual Reading Experience:
My actual reading experience was not what I imagined, yet it was.
I loved the atmosphere. If you are going to read an atmospheric thriller, what better atmosphere than Florence, Italy. I felt like I was there – staying in the villa, sunning by the pool, enjoying the sites and the parties. But the beauty did have a dark tinge to it – a tinge of entitlement, soullessness, and lies.
I also loved the ending. Until I reached about the 80% point, I thought my reading enjoyment was only around 3 stars, but then I read the conclusion. The last 20% reframed everything that came before it and made me want to reread the story, knowing what I now know. Because I realized that Out of Her Depth is a classic man's inhumanity to man story and reflects Rachel's potential descent into the moral darkness of the entitled young adults she spent her summer around. She is, as the title tells us, out of her depth. And I love this!
The first-person narration allows the reader to experience this world just as Rachel experiences it, with its allure and fantasy-like quality. This is her story, and it's one fraught with warnings and a poignancy that I could never have expected going into it - aspects that provide suspense that keeps the pages turning. I didn't find it as fast-paced as I hoped it would be, but that is one of the things I wonder about. If my focus had been on the right thing, I think the pace would have been much faster.
The story is told in dual timelines. One timeline tells of the events of that fateful summer, and the other is in the present (21 years later). The changes in time are handled smoothly and naturally without confusion about which timeline the reader is reading about.
Characters:
The cast of characters are all incredibly unlikable – one more unlikable than the next - but then I believe that is an essential point of the story. The narrator and main character, Rachel, comes from a solidly middle-class family with a total lack of pretenses or airs. She finds herself thrown into a whole different world for the summer when a teacher recommends her for a job at an Italian Villa. She enters a world of entitlement and deception that could change her forever.
To Read or Not to Read:
If you love atmospheric psychological thrillers involving toxic friendships, Out of Her Depth is one you won't be able to put down.
Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber is a psychological thriller and, more importantly, a character study on how the allure of the entitled can take you on an unexpected journey into moral darkness. Whether or not you can return from this journey is one of the many poignant details the story explores.
Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
The cover doesn't give away anything. It's a home with one upstairs window lighted, and I can't tell if anyone is in that window. The blurb talked about a summer when a lot happened. The setting is a Villa in Florence, Italy – I love the sound of that. I also am intrigued by the mention of a deadly web of manipulation and desire. Overall, I expect an atmospheric thriller about wealthy people doing bad things.
Actual Reading Experience:
My actual reading experience was not what I imagined, yet it was.
I loved the atmosphere. If you are going to read an atmospheric thriller, what better atmosphere than Florence, Italy. I felt like I was there – staying in the villa, sunning by the pool, enjoying the sites and the parties. But the beauty did have a dark tinge to it – a tinge of entitlement, soullessness, and lies.
I also loved the ending. Until I reached about the 80% point, I thought my reading enjoyment was only around 3 stars, but then I read the conclusion. The last 20% reframed everything that came before it and made me want to reread the story, knowing what I now know. Because I realized that Out of Her Depth is a classic man's inhumanity to man story and reflects Rachel's potential descent into the moral darkness of the entitled young adults she spent her summer around. She is, as the title tells us, out of her depth. And I love this!
The first-person narration allows the reader to experience this world just as Rachel experiences it, with its allure and fantasy-like quality. This is her story, and it's one fraught with warnings and a poignancy that I could never have expected going into it - aspects that provide suspense that keeps the pages turning. I didn't find it as fast-paced as I hoped it would be, but that is one of the things I wonder about. If my focus had been on the right thing, I think the pace would have been much faster.
The story is told in dual timelines. One timeline tells of the events of that fateful summer, and the other is in the present (21 years later). The changes in time are handled smoothly and naturally without confusion about which timeline the reader is reading about.
Characters:
The cast of characters are all incredibly unlikable – one more unlikable than the next - but then I believe that is an essential point of the story. The narrator and main character, Rachel, comes from a solidly middle-class family with a total lack of pretenses or airs. She finds herself thrown into a whole different world for the summer when a teacher recommends her for a job at an Italian Villa. She enters a world of entitlement and deception that could change her forever.
To Read or Not to Read:
If you love atmospheric psychological thrillers involving toxic friendships, Out of Her Depth is one you won't be able to put down.