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A review by litwithleigh
Off the Deep End by Lucinda Berry
2.0
Thank you Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before publication. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
And thank you SabiReads for ranting about this book with me :)
Writing: 2/5 | Plot: 2/5 | Ending: 2/5
THE PLOT
The title sums it up. Jules literally goes off the deep end by crashing her car in the icy river. Then she mentally goes off the deep end and begins grooming the other survivor of the crash, a 15-year-old boy named Isaac. And when Isaac goes missing, his parents wonder if it was because of a serial killer snatching boys off da skreets or because of Jules going off the deep end.
THIS BOOK IS LIKE...
Paying for a Michelin 5 star restaurant and they serve you a big Mac and you're like ight that's fine but I didn't pay $135 this
MY OPINION
First things first, this was MUCH better than Under Her Care. This was closer to Lucinda Berry's previous bangers—Appetite for Innocence and Saving Noah. However, similar to UHC, I found myself wishing Jules to get in the car with Amber (Isaac's mom) and drive into the river again. They are both insufferable.
So then I was thinking to myself, why the fuck do I dislike her last two books so much? And thanks to jet lag, I woke up at 4am and realized it's because she doesn't write good adult characters. Berry is a child psychologist, so when she writes from the POV of a child, she absolutely nails it. She captures the child's mind perfectly.
But when she writes an adult POV, she doesn't change her approach. The adult characters have the same traits as the children, so they come off delusional, immature, and annoying af. The amount of times a grown adult "giggled" in this story should be illegal. I never want to read that word again. Also proclaiming "I knew I was right!!!" when the lead detective confirms your suspicions about Jules potentially being involved with your sons kidnapping is possibly the most immature reaction you could have.
SPOILER WARNING SO SCROLL FURIOUSLY TO THE BOTTOM IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT
And like UHC, I found the choice of POVs useless given how the story panned out. What was the point of Jules other than to provide shock value. She had absolutely nothing to do with the "final act." Nothing. It seemed like she was there to demonstrate different symptoms of severe trauma as part of a training manual or something. Every time the psychologist (mad unprofessional btw) mentioned a "symptom" like hyper-sexuality, suddenly Jules would take on those traits. It was like a weird game of "Simon says"—Dr. Stephens says.
Given that the conclusion was about how Isaac used video games to spread and encourage violence which then bubbled over into real life (btw there were no clues that would be the ending whatsoever, it was just tossed on in there), one of the POVs should've been his. I didn't need to read about Amber saying: JULES DID THIS SHIT every single chapter. She provided no value to the story either. The worried mother shtick got real old real fast.
Lastly, like UHC, which I believe should've been about munchausen disorder instead of autism, I think the focus of this book was off. Considering how it ended, it should've focused on how bullying pushed Isaac to find comfort in an online world where he could be the bullier, and then drove him to commit awful violent crimes IRL. The whole video game thing wasn't even mentioned until 80% of the book was done, but yet it was crucial to Isaac's final act. I don't get it? Anyways.
I hope Lucinda goes back to writing children's POVs and leaves the adults as side characters. That's why Appetite for Innocence goes so hard. I remember when I read Saving Noah I wanted to fight the mom so bad, but the storyline and flashbacks were so interesting, I could blow past it. But when I'm forced to endure TWO painfully immature "adult" POVs, I just can't do it. It's tough to enjoy a book when you can't identify who the protagonist is.
PROS AND CONS:
Pros: better than under her care, the content was more interesting
Cons: wanted to fight both of the adults, did not give a single fuck if Isaac turned up dead or alive, the ending was so random.
And thank you SabiReads for ranting about this book with me :)
Writing: 2/5 | Plot: 2/5 | Ending: 2/5
THE PLOT
The title sums it up. Jules literally goes off the deep end by crashing her car in the icy river. Then she mentally goes off the deep end and begins grooming the other survivor of the crash, a 15-year-old boy named Isaac. And when Isaac goes missing, his parents wonder if it was because of a serial killer snatching boys off da skreets or because of Jules going off the deep end.
THIS BOOK IS LIKE...
Paying for a Michelin 5 star restaurant and they serve you a big Mac and you're like ight that's fine but I didn't pay $135 this
MY OPINION
First things first, this was MUCH better than Under Her Care. This was closer to Lucinda Berry's previous bangers—Appetite for Innocence and Saving Noah. However, similar to UHC, I found myself wishing Jules to get in the car with Amber (Isaac's mom) and drive into the river again. They are both insufferable.
So then I was thinking to myself, why the fuck do I dislike her last two books so much? And thanks to jet lag, I woke up at 4am and realized it's because she doesn't write good adult characters. Berry is a child psychologist, so when she writes from the POV of a child, she absolutely nails it. She captures the child's mind perfectly.
But when she writes an adult POV, she doesn't change her approach. The adult characters have the same traits as the children, so they come off delusional, immature, and annoying af. The amount of times a grown adult "giggled" in this story should be illegal. I never want to read that word again. Also proclaiming "I knew I was right!!!" when the lead detective confirms your suspicions about Jules potentially being involved with your sons kidnapping is possibly the most immature reaction you could have.
SPOILER WARNING SO SCROLL FURIOUSLY TO THE BOTTOM IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT
And like UHC, I found the choice of POVs useless given how the story panned out. What was the point of Jules other than to provide shock value. She had absolutely nothing to do with the "final act." Nothing. It seemed like she was there to demonstrate different symptoms of severe trauma as part of a training manual or something. Every time the psychologist (mad unprofessional btw) mentioned a "symptom" like hyper-sexuality, suddenly Jules would take on those traits. It was like a weird game of "Simon says"—Dr. Stephens says.
Given that the conclusion was about how Isaac used video games to spread and encourage violence which then bubbled over into real life (btw there were no clues that would be the ending whatsoever, it was just tossed on in there), one of the POVs should've been his. I didn't need to read about Amber saying: JULES DID THIS SHIT every single chapter. She provided no value to the story either. The worried mother shtick got real old real fast.
Lastly, like UHC, which I believe should've been about munchausen disorder instead of autism, I think the focus of this book was off. Considering how it ended, it should've focused on how bullying pushed Isaac to find comfort in an online world where he could be the bullier, and then drove him to commit awful violent crimes IRL. The whole video game thing wasn't even mentioned until 80% of the book was done, but yet it was crucial to Isaac's final act. I don't get it? Anyways.
I hope Lucinda goes back to writing children's POVs and leaves the adults as side characters. That's why Appetite for Innocence goes so hard. I remember when I read Saving Noah I wanted to fight the mom so bad, but the storyline and flashbacks were so interesting, I could blow past it. But when I'm forced to endure TWO painfully immature "adult" POVs, I just can't do it. It's tough to enjoy a book when you can't identify who the protagonist is.
PROS AND CONS:
Pros: better than under her care, the content was more interesting
Cons: wanted to fight both of the adults, did not give a single fuck if Isaac turned up dead or alive, the ending was so random.