Skip to main content

Looking back on the June book club selection-Before She Knew Him

Before She Knew Him was released 03/05/19 by William Morrow.  Written by Peter Swanson, this was a recent BOTM selection.  This was only the third BOTM I've read (behind Queenie and Daisy Jones and the Six).
40390756

Hen and her husband Lloyd move into the suburbs outside of Boston, and they think they've finally found a quiet place to grow old.  When Hen spots a sports trophy in the house of her next door neighbors after dinner one night, that sense of security quickly disappears.  The statue looked exactly like one who went missing from a young man's room years ago...a young man who had been murdered.  Hen then begins to stalk her neighbor as she battles her intuition against her history of psychotic breaks that keep her husband and the police from believing her.  One night they make eye contact in a parking lot, and Hen realizes Matthew has been aware that she has been following him all along.  Can she escape the dangerous force that is her neighbor?

I was really interested in this book.  A potential serial killer?  COUNT ME IN.  It fell a little flat for me though.  One of my biggest pet peeves in a book is when a character isn't believed or is dismissed because of a mental illness issue or behavior.  As someone with an autoimmune disease that happens to list depression as one of it's many beautiful side effects, it annoys me.  It read a lot like, "we're not going to believe you because you're a crazy woman."

The ending was twisty enough.  The book was decent, but that factor really took me out of the book.  I don't regret reading the book, but I wished Hen had been written in a slightly different way...like the police not believing her because Matthew was a mastermind and a genius, rather than her mental state.

Quick read.  Enjoyable enough.

🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is One Truly the Loneliest Number?

I was given a digital copy of One? by Jennifer L. Cahill.  She reached out to me through Twitter, and she was so sweet.  I couldn't wait to dive into her book.💙 The Plot (From Goodreads): It's London in the mid-noughties before Facebook, iPhones and ubiquitous wifi. Zara has just moved to London for her first real job and struggles to find her feet in a big city with no instruction manual. Penelope works night and day in an investment bank with little or no time for love. At twenty-eight she is positively ancient as far as her mother is concerned and the pressure is on for her to settle down as the big 3-0 is looming. Charlie spends night and day with his band who are constantly teetering on the verge of greatness. Richard has relocated to London from his castle in Scotland in search of the one, and Alyx is barely in one place long enough to hold down a relationship let alone think about the future. One? follows the highs and lows of a group of twenty-somethings living ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heartless by Elsie Silver

Elsie Silver has once again proven why she’s an auto buy author for me after reading this book! Cade is SUCH A GRUMP and I love him so much for it. Reading book 1, Willa was easily one of my most favorite characters, and I frequently blew up my bestie’s phone with things like “Willa just said _____.” It’s no surprise to me that I also loved her in this story. I’m not huge on age gap romances for my own insane reasons, but I thought it was done well here. Overall, I loved everything about this book. I had an absolute blast while reading it, and it now sits on my shelf as one of my most treasured books.
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucy Dawson's Don't Ever Tell

Don't Ever Tell was written by Lucy Dawson and published by Bookouture, released on 06/25/19.  I was granted early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.  Because I got too click happy on NetGalley, I'm just now getting to it.  I promise-one day I'll be caught up on my reading!!! Charlotte seems to have the perfect job, family, and life.  Only she knows that her marriage is crumbling, and her husband is oblivious to the fact(because of COURSE he is).  Little does he know that she has hired someone to be her, and when he realizes just who that person is life will change as they know it. The synopsis sounds like a typical thriller, but this one was more enjoyable than most.  The writing allowed me to put some pieces of the puzzle together, just enough to keep me interested and reading.  I couldn't put this book down.  Charlotte was so easy to relate to, especially if you've ever been in an unhappy relationship.  I loved th...
Post a Comment
Read more