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A review by hnmoore
Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn
3.0
3.5 stars. I keep wafting back and forth between 3 and 4 stars... so we're going to settle in the middle.
One thing holding me back from awarding this book 4 stars is that miscommunication is the sole reason this book is not, like, 20 pages long. Cate, while an interesting character, is off-balance and frequently explosive when she has no cause or reason to be, and her attempts at communicating with Jamie are just abysmal. Honestly, I just wanted to see her get medicated. She needed help after she got out of jail, and there was no one there for her. Where is her parole officer? Is there someone making sure she is taking her medication? Who is looking out for Cate, as a recent release with a history of (manic) mental illness? Why is there no one here??? Ok back to the miscommunication. Between Cate, Cate's man, all the people from his past, and the therapist, shouldn't someone have helped Jamie more? They all knew the truth, and yet Jamie is left in the dark trying to piece things together. I feel that the therapist in particular really did not help Jamie as much as she should have. And Cate too, but because of her own mental issues I'm not placing as much blame on her.
Along the same lines of miscommunication, I was not a fan of the flipping back and forth of the timelines- it was done a bit messily at times, and instead of making me feel uneasy or offkilter, as I suspect was intended, I was just bored and frustrated.
The twist at the end did take me a bit by surprise, but honestly I should have seen it coming- it was easy to guess The twist and the ending are certainly memorable and stick with you for a while (what's going to happen now???), which is why I'm keeping it at 3.5 stars instead of 3.
Overall, definitely an interesting read. I don't read a lot of novels with characters that have mental illness(es), so I really enjoyed this step out of my ~epic-fantasy-with-strong-female-characters~ comfort zone.
One thing holding me back from awarding this book 4 stars is that miscommunication is the sole reason this book is not, like, 20 pages long. Cate, while an interesting character, is off-balance and frequently explosive when she has no cause or reason to be, and her attempts at communicating with Jamie are just abysmal. Honestly, I just wanted to see her get medicated. She needed help after she got out of jail, and there was no one there for her. Where is her parole officer? Is there someone making sure she is taking her medication? Who is looking out for Cate, as a recent release with a history of (manic) mental illness? Why is there no one here??? Ok back to the miscommunication. Between Cate, Cate's man, all the people from his past, and the therapist, shouldn't someone have helped Jamie more? They all knew the truth, and yet Jamie is left in the dark trying to piece things together. I feel that the therapist in particular really did not help Jamie as much as she should have. And Cate too, but because of her own mental issues I'm not placing as much blame on her.
Along the same lines of miscommunication, I was not a fan of the flipping back and forth of the timelines- it was done a bit messily at times, and instead of making me feel uneasy or offkilter, as I suspect was intended, I was just bored and frustrated.
The twist at the end did take me a bit by surprise, but honestly I should have seen it coming- it was easy to guess
Spoiler
that he had something to do with his mother's death. However, the mental illness part that played out did catch me off guard. I guess I just assumed that because he had diagnosed illnesses (the severe anxiety, and whatever was making his hands go numb), that there wouldn't be another illness hidden behind them. That being said, it's totally on me - that's just my inexperience with mental illness talking, and I really should know better. The hand numbness was a big arrow, basically shouting GUILTY at me, but I didn't listen.Overall, definitely an interesting read. I don't read a lot of novels with characters that have mental illness(es), so I really enjoyed this step out of my ~epic-fantasy-with-strong-female-characters~ comfort zone.