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A review by shellygreninger
The Big Exit by David Carnoy
4.0
I have read a lot of Crime/Thriller novels over the past 6 months and while this wasn't my favorite, it did keep me turning pages right to the end. It reminded me a little of Gone Girl, plot wise, but I didn't hate myself for wasting time when I was done with it like I did with Gone Girl! I also finished this one much faster.
Richie is fresh out of prison and trying to make a fresh start when he finds himself accused of killing his former best friend. This former best friend married Richie's ex-fiance while he was in prison for a crime he believes he didn't commit. In real time, the time from the murder to the resolution is relatively short, but we have scenes that go all the way back to when Richie starts working for the Exoneration Foundation. I think that the flashback scenes were nice and they helped to tell the story, but I had a hard time with the tense change as we went from past to present. It's probably not something that will bother most people, but for some reason it did me. In fact it may not even be noticeable to some, I am just really weird about stuff like this when I am reading!
I will say, that while I liked the story I never fully connected to any of the characters. They were likable enough, but there was something that kept me just outside of the story throughout the whole book. I kind of feel like I just got to know them on the surface and it never went any deeper than that. I liked the (minor) character of Ashley the best, but she isn't explored in any depth at all since she was just a bit player in the story. I know that this is somewhat of a sequel to Knife Music, which I haven't read, so that may be why I didn't get some of the characters. There is a character, a lawyer, who is starting fertility treatments and there is a whole chapter devoted to her injections, etc...and then it's not really explored further. These types of things may be connected to the first book. I don't particularly feel the need to read the other book though.
All in all, it's a pretty fast paced read and there are some twists that you will see coming and some you won't. I like that it had a nice tidy ending! If you like thrillers, detective novels or anything about Silicon Valley then you may want to give this book a try. It's not a read again book for me, but I did enjoy it!
Richie is fresh out of prison and trying to make a fresh start when he finds himself accused of killing his former best friend. This former best friend married Richie's ex-fiance while he was in prison for a crime he believes he didn't commit. In real time, the time from the murder to the resolution is relatively short, but we have scenes that go all the way back to when Richie starts working for the Exoneration Foundation. I think that the flashback scenes were nice and they helped to tell the story, but I had a hard time with the tense change as we went from past to present. It's probably not something that will bother most people, but for some reason it did me. In fact it may not even be noticeable to some, I am just really weird about stuff like this when I am reading!
I will say, that while I liked the story I never fully connected to any of the characters. They were likable enough, but there was something that kept me just outside of the story throughout the whole book. I kind of feel like I just got to know them on the surface and it never went any deeper than that. I liked the (minor) character of Ashley the best, but she isn't explored in any depth at all since she was just a bit player in the story. I know that this is somewhat of a sequel to Knife Music, which I haven't read, so that may be why I didn't get some of the characters. There is a character, a lawyer, who is starting fertility treatments and there is a whole chapter devoted to her injections, etc...and then it's not really explored further. These types of things may be connected to the first book. I don't particularly feel the need to read the other book though.
All in all, it's a pretty fast paced read and there are some twists that you will see coming and some you won't. I like that it had a nice tidy ending! If you like thrillers, detective novels or anything about Silicon Valley then you may want to give this book a try. It's not a read again book for me, but I did enjoy it!