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A review by henrymarlene
Leave the Lights On by Liv Andersson
4.0
In Maine, Beatrice seemed like she had a charmed life: wealth, a husband, charge of a Trust to build an arts centre. Yet under the surface, a whirlwind of activity threatened to topple her over in one quick breath. Her past was trying to catch up with her in the midst of abductions of local children, one of whom is her husband’s child to another woman, that she hasn’t admitted she knows about.
We learn, piece by piece about Beatrice’s past and her history slowly finding its way back to her. We watch Josh, her husband, unravel as their relationship is tested for the penultimate time. The restoration of the former island sanatorium for women into a modern-day artist colony was a project doomed and haunted from the start, with scars of former patients haunting every activity on the island. It was like the normalcy of living in the sanatorium all those years ago was being reflected in the way Beatrice was and wasn’t reacting to many of the events occurring. I think Beatrice’s inability to understand or comprehend what was happening was part of her own PTSD; she was not even aware of it herself. She worked on fight-or-flight her whole life, and each time there was a sinister event, and that’s where she retreated to. She seemed restrained, hypervigilant, and ready to step in at any tenuous moment, and unaware her void of emotions kept many at arm’s length from her, including Josh.
I think that’s why I liked this book; there was just so much going o that it all seemed a little nuts and hard to believe. The confusion and culmination of all these crazy pieces kept the book moving at lightning speed without time to sink into some of the more detailed plot lines. It had a few horror elements thrown in, and I’m not sure it was entirely a thriller either. And that’s okay. It was a nice change to other thrillers of late.
We learn, piece by piece about Beatrice’s past and her history slowly finding its way back to her. We watch Josh, her husband, unravel as their relationship is tested for the penultimate time. The restoration of the former island sanatorium for women into a modern-day artist colony was a project doomed and haunted from the start, with scars of former patients haunting every activity on the island. It was like the normalcy of living in the sanatorium all those years ago was being reflected in the way Beatrice was and wasn’t reacting to many of the events occurring. I think Beatrice’s inability to understand or comprehend what was happening was part of her own PTSD; she was not even aware of it herself. She worked on fight-or-flight her whole life, and each time there was a sinister event, and that’s where she retreated to. She seemed restrained, hypervigilant, and ready to step in at any tenuous moment, and unaware her void of emotions kept many at arm’s length from her, including Josh.
I think that’s why I liked this book; there was just so much going o that it all seemed a little nuts and hard to believe. The confusion and culmination of all these crazy pieces kept the book moving at lightning speed without time to sink into some of the more detailed plot lines. It had a few horror elements thrown in, and I’m not sure it was entirely a thriller either. And that’s okay. It was a nice change to other thrillers of late.