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booksamongstfriends 's review for:
The Main Character
by Jaclyn Goldis
Honestly… this book pissed me off.
Let me start by saying this book had such strong potential to be an amazing read. It felt like even after being handed so many keys to the castle, they still couldn’t get in. By the description alone, I really thought we were going to have a suspenseful thriller with bodies dropping left and right. And to add to that, the setting of the Orient Express—already a classic scene—set expectations even higher, only for them to be let down even further. I’m not sure what frustrated me more about this book: the lack of utilization in the setting, or the fact that nothing actually happens until about 80% into the read. Or maybe it was that the main character was so insufferable and so many of the choices made just did not add up.
This book centers around Rory, who has been offered the deal of a lifetime—or so you’d think. She’s chosen to be the main character for a famous mystery writer, Ginevra X. After all the interviews are complete, Ginevra offers Rory a trip of a lifetime to celebrate the advance reader copy of her book. But to Rory’s surprise, she’s not the only one on this adventure. When she boards the train, she’s shocked to see her brother, her childhood best friend, and her ex. I just wish we, as readers, felt as shocked as she did. Rory felt hyperbolic in ways that made it hard to really relate to her reactions. And while the book is told through multiple POVs, none of them seemed deep enough to allow readers to actually care.
There are also plot points that keep being hammered in to the point where I was like, “OK, we get it.” The brother is working on a cure. The dad has Alzheimer’s. Nate is her ex. And as if the repetition wasn’t enough, the slow, slow, slow burn of this book definitely blew out any flame I had for it. By the time we get to the big reveals, they almost bore you, and we don’t even see an attempt at the death happen until nearly the end of the book. But what really bothered me was that everyone on this train was interviewed for this book, yet they had secrets they didn’t want to get out. Like… huh? Make it make sense.
So, for me, this was beyond disappointing. I might recommend this to someone who likes familial drama, but I would not recommend it to anyone expecting a crazy, suspenseful, emotional thriller. Because thrill it did not.
Let me start by saying this book had such strong potential to be an amazing read. It felt like even after being handed so many keys to the castle, they still couldn’t get in. By the description alone, I really thought we were going to have a suspenseful thriller with bodies dropping left and right. And to add to that, the setting of the Orient Express—already a classic scene—set expectations even higher, only for them to be let down even further. I’m not sure what frustrated me more about this book: the lack of utilization in the setting, or the fact that nothing actually happens until about 80% into the read. Or maybe it was that the main character was so insufferable and so many of the choices made just did not add up.
This book centers around Rory, who has been offered the deal of a lifetime—or so you’d think. She’s chosen to be the main character for a famous mystery writer, Ginevra X. After all the interviews are complete, Ginevra offers Rory a trip of a lifetime to celebrate the advance reader copy of her book. But to Rory’s surprise, she’s not the only one on this adventure. When she boards the train, she’s shocked to see her brother, her childhood best friend, and her ex. I just wish we, as readers, felt as shocked as she did. Rory felt hyperbolic in ways that made it hard to really relate to her reactions. And while the book is told through multiple POVs, none of them seemed deep enough to allow readers to actually care.
There are also plot points that keep being hammered in to the point where I was like, “OK, we get it.” The brother is working on a cure. The dad has Alzheimer’s. Nate is her ex. And as if the repetition wasn’t enough, the slow, slow, slow burn of this book definitely blew out any flame I had for it. By the time we get to the big reveals, they almost bore you, and we don’t even see an attempt at the death happen until nearly the end of the book. But what really bothered me was that everyone on this train was interviewed for this book, yet they had secrets they didn’t want to get out. Like… huh? Make it make sense.
So, for me, this was beyond disappointing. I might recommend this to someone who likes familial drama, but I would not recommend it to anyone expecting a crazy, suspenseful, emotional thriller. Because thrill it did not.