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A review by charliemaryann
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
4.0
This was a 5 star until the very ending, which although was described as too dark, I just found extremely annoying and all character development was erased. Now, if you enjoyed the Maid by Nita Prose, Sally has a resemblance to Molly and therefore you should pick this up, but only pick this up if you expect it to be a character study with a not so heavy focus on plot.
Plot: Sally Diamond is described as having Neurodivergent traits but is never diagnosed during her psyche evaluations, so take that with a grain of salt and be open to her story, because it makes sense. Her father would always joke “when I die put me out with the bins and set me on fire.” and because Sally thinks literally, and takes people at their literal word, that’s exactly what she does the day she finds her father’s body. Naturally, she makes national news and everyone knows who she is, but they don’t know her as Sally Diamond, they know her from her childhood when she also made national news, as Mary. We are essentially learning about Sally’s childhood along with her and it’s very extremely dark.
I found this book so fast paced despite it being character focused and I am typically a fast, action plot focused girlie, but this worked for me. I found Sally as a character to be extremely endearing, her entire persona made the most sense all things considered. She reminded me a lot of Molly the maid in the way in which she thinks and acts, but this is more of a trauma story than a cosy mystery.
I enjoyed Sally’s development throughout the book (until the end). She really develops as a person, however the author really ruined this book with that ending, it was a complete eraser of development and that’s why I couldn’t give it a full five stars. I heard that the ending was changed for the US audience because it was dark, first of all, it’s your responsibility to check trigger warnings and decide for yourself if you can handle certain material in a book, second of all, I don’t believe that rushed ending that gave us pittance was too dark for a US audience, if anything we needed more of a conclusion. And don’t get me started on the end of a certain character’s ARC, I was so angry. Surely that’s not how it gets to end. Zero character development for that character specifically throughout the entire book.
However, I recommend this book for the girlies who like to explore the psyche and the impact trauma has on it
Plot: Sally Diamond is described as having Neurodivergent traits but is never diagnosed during her psyche evaluations, so take that with a grain of salt and be open to her story, because it makes sense. Her father would always joke “when I die put me out with the bins and set me on fire.” and because Sally thinks literally, and takes people at their literal word, that’s exactly what she does the day she finds her father’s body. Naturally, she makes national news and everyone knows who she is, but they don’t know her as Sally Diamond, they know her from her childhood when she also made national news, as Mary. We are essentially learning about Sally’s childhood along with her and it’s very extremely dark.
I found this book so fast paced despite it being character focused and I am typically a fast, action plot focused girlie, but this worked for me. I found Sally as a character to be extremely endearing, her entire persona made the most sense all things considered. She reminded me a lot of Molly the maid in the way in which she thinks and acts, but this is more of a trauma story than a cosy mystery.
I enjoyed Sally’s development throughout the book (until the end). She really develops as a person, however the author really ruined this book with that ending, it was a complete eraser of development and that’s why I couldn’t give it a full five stars. I heard that the ending was changed for the US audience because it was dark, first of all, it’s your responsibility to check trigger warnings and decide for yourself if you can handle certain material in a book, second of all, I don’t believe that rushed ending that gave us pittance was too dark for a US audience, if anything we needed more of a conclusion. And don’t get me started on the end of a certain character’s ARC, I was so angry. Surely that’s not how it gets to end. Zero character development for that character specifically throughout the entire book.
However, I recommend this book for the girlies who like to explore the psyche and the impact trauma has on it