Synopsis:
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.
No. Just no. Don’t even waste your time! How this book got a 62,000 4.5 star rating is beyond me. So how did I come to read this book? Well, a student wanted us to read a book together then discuss it. Since Gone Girl was a halfway decent story line, she thought this book would be ok. Boy were we BOTH wrong! We were both pretty consistent in our analysis of this book.
- There are some holes in the plot (or so I felt). The book synopsis says “from a brief stay at a psych hospital” but that isn’t really much of an emphasis until later. It makes it seem she left the hospital and went back to her hometown (but that isn’t how it happens).
- Promiscuous activity throughout the entire book… the 13-year old’s behavior is “jaw dropping” and uncalled for. Everything was just a little too much. It was like she was writing a story line then thought “oh yea, let’s have the main character sleep with an 18 year old.” (sorry…spoiler alert)
- We both felt that the story line was a little weird and stupid. I mean, any normal person who is around someone like two of the characters in this book will get the vibe of psychopathic behavior.
- I totally figured out the “guess who” aspect. Anyone who is a “Freida Readah” can figure out most thriller books outside of Freida!
I think you can probably guess my advice to you about this book…skip it. There are way better thrillers than this one. In the meantime, I’ll look up the next book for my student and me to read… LOL.
Happy Reading (just not this book)!
