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A review by energyrae
Convince Me by Nina Sadowsky
4.0
Told in 3 alternating viewpoints, Convince Me tells the story after the death of Justin Childs, a man adored and followed by everyone he met. But he was a man with secrets, and we follow the three most important people in his life in the wake of his death. His wife, Annie, is learning some of his secrets after the fact. As is his best friend and partner, Will. His mother, Carol, knows some of those secrets but is putting on a good front.
This feels more mystery than thriller to me as I didn’t get that heart-pounding, edge of your seat feeling that I get with thrillers. There were a few situations that seemed forced, and I write about those after my review.
I enjoyed the way this slowly came together. It’s a bit of a slow-burn in that aspect because you aren’t sure how we’ve arrived at Justin’s death, but you want to know how we got there so you keep reading. The plot is cleverly thought out with a lot of misdirection, and once the secrets started spilling out, they didn’t stop. It made for an enjoyable read. Thank you, Ballantine Books, for sending this along.
I’m going to post what some might think is a bit of a spoiler in the next paragraph that explains why I’m giving this 4 stars instead of 5, so if you don’t want to read that, you can finish reading the review here.
Let’s talk about Hayley’s brother, Hugh. Your sister was chasing after a married man who was stringing her along, and you’re mad at the wife who knew nothing about it because of that? Yes, it’s irrational. We get that way when we’re grieving, but it feels forced. What Hugh did later because of those feelings didn’t move the plot forward, and reads like an afterthought to an already forced scenario. I didn’t love it. Also, the scene in which Will and Annie were in the restaurant doesn’t seem like that would be in the budget, so it was a bit farfetched.
This feels more mystery than thriller to me as I didn’t get that heart-pounding, edge of your seat feeling that I get with thrillers. There were a few situations that seemed forced, and I write about those after my review.
I enjoyed the way this slowly came together. It’s a bit of a slow-burn in that aspect because you aren’t sure how we’ve arrived at Justin’s death, but you want to know how we got there so you keep reading. The plot is cleverly thought out with a lot of misdirection, and once the secrets started spilling out, they didn’t stop. It made for an enjoyable read. Thank you, Ballantine Books, for sending this along.
I’m going to post what some might think is a bit of a spoiler in the next paragraph that explains why I’m giving this 4 stars instead of 5, so if you don’t want to read that, you can finish reading the review here.
Let’s talk about Hayley’s brother, Hugh. Your sister was chasing after a married man who was stringing her along, and you’re mad at the wife who knew nothing about it because of that? Yes, it’s irrational. We get that way when we’re grieving, but it feels forced. What Hugh did later because of those feelings didn’t move the plot forward, and reads like an afterthought to an already forced scenario. I didn’t love it. Also, the scene in which Will and Annie were in the restaurant doesn’t seem like that would be in the budget, so it was a bit farfetched.