Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.
This my introduction to thriller novels and I can say that I am now intrigued by the genre
This book was the lost story that I never knew that I was searching for. I read this over my Christmas holidays and I remember just trying to explain it to all my family members with some degree of failure. BUT let me try to re-do that here.
I went into without knowing the subject of the story other that a writer was its main character and that a lot of people were buzzing it over on the internet. I saw this book in every bookshop that I walked in so I decided to pick it up, read it in portuguese which may be a disadvantage since its a translation, and just enjoy a little mystery. or so I thought.
This is so much more. It is disturbing and creepy in a way that I found entrancing. Much because the disturbing stuff are what we know to another version of normal too close to reality.
What I mean is that this novel was an amazing discovery, but yes it has a few bits and bobs that got me to feel uneasy about the whole plot. Let me explain.
Our main character is a broke writer (relatable) that is offered a deal which given the situation she can't refuse and that deal is writing the last few books in a famous series since the writer of the series is unable to write them herself.
So our MC just hops on the deal and goes to live with the family of this famous writer: with her hot husband and her empty BIG house and a vegetable shell of a person that used to be the writer herself. After that shit starts to get weird.
I got on board the whole "I am a quiet writer" vibe but I have to say that the characters in this novel are plain. Lowen, our MC, had some depth to her but as the story progresses she loses it and transforms into this flat person who only problem is that she is love with someone married or that the wife is trying to hurt her.
and i hated this.
She is a thriller writer. She knows that she needs to get out of that house, but she doesn't and that for me is dumb and not in character.
Yes you can argue that she is not in her right mind and that she simply doesn't have the money to get out BUT she is has been like that for a while and she clearly is someone that can survive anyway! Come on, safety first?
The romance was ,in my opinion, a bit forced down on the reader and I found the sex scenes just stupid and not in the same vibe as the rest of the story. Because of this whenever they showed some romance I was just taken out of the story! (I am not talking about the husband-wife past scenes ,that made sense for the plot).
Those were my main problems with the story, the love story and some of the characters out-of-character decisions. All the rest was honestly very well crafted. I overall loved this book.
The mystery and the creepy atmosphere were written to perfection. The open ending was also amazing even the pace I found spectacular.
I gave it five starts even with all the bad points to it. You should read it and tell me what you think in the comments bellow!
MILD SPOILERS ahead, be warned.
Let me tell you about the perfect first chapter, this novel did it for me. The opening of the story is amazing and makes you feel the book. I do believe the whole book was found on that first encounter between the main characters without giving too much away.
The fact that we are met with blood in a situation where blood should not be met is something that tells so much, the story is about this, about situations that should not be the way that they happen in the book. Everything is reversed.
The fact that Jeremy is the one that helps her clean the blood is another reversion of the end where is Lowen that helps him clean up his "mess". Also the fact that neither of them talked about it again almost transforming it in a normal thing connects directly to the end of the book when they don't talk about the killing of Verity of even the letter that Lowen founds. She dismiss it and they never talk about it.
It is an amazing piece of writing!
I could go on and on about the clues and pieces that this author incorporated in the plot but there is no time, just know that this is re-read material. There is all this scenes that make the book almost feel normal and that makes me even more creeped out because I found myself believing that it was real.
Also the fact that we are so well connect to the MC. We experience the story though her and are deeply connected to her reactions. When she reads that autobiography we are there with her and we feel the same as she does.
The ending was the best part which is very good for a book. Lately a majority of novels have an ending syndrome where readers often find themselves disappointed by simple or predicable resolutions.
But Verity has a satisfactory ending and even more than that, it is interesting, it makes sense, it is unique and it is an open ending. This is all very difficult to pull out in the very saturated thriller market.
The fact that we will never know the truth is amazing. The fact that some believe that Verity was actually just a writer while others believe that she was crazy and others believe that she is both. I just loved that I never know and that I still thinking about it.
read this book, please!
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Happy readings.