Before I start, just a quick disclaimer: I'm one of the outliers who didn't like this book much, so I won't have too many good things to say about it in my review. If this is going to be an issue for those reading this, then I suggest stopping right here. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Ok, so here's my unpopular opinion: overall, I really really disliked this book — to the point that I struggled to write this review because I had trouble choosing which of the myriad of "issues" to rant about. Below is just a smattering of things I had a problem with (not all-inclusive of course).
First, the writing, which to me, felt quite different from the previous Sally Hepworth novels I had read. The writing this time around felt stilted and choppy and a bit elementary if I'm being honest. There was a lot of "I did this, then I did that, then I did this" (and by A LOT, I mean pretty much every chapter — there are 87 chapters) — with much of the detail being about unnecessary stuff that had nothing to do with the plot (honestly, does it matter to me that a character 'went to the supermarket, pulled out a cart, walked down the aisle, put stuff in the cart'? Nope!). What made this worse was that the entire story was told from the first person point of view, so it sounded super awkward to hear the characters describe their own mundane actions (I.e.:"I picked up the laptop, I walked over to the table, I put it down and I opened the lid"). This also made the story feel unnecessarily long and dragged out — which normally wouldn't be a problem except that this is supposed to be a domestic thriller / suspense novel and mundane details like this bog down the plot.
Speaking of the plot, that was another thing that didn't work in this story. Many of the plot points felt contrived and forced, but what bothered me the most was the ridiculousness of the main character Pippa's story arc — for much of the story, I found myself alternating between wanting to slap Pippa (more on this later) and suspending my disbelief every couple pages at the repeated stupidity of some of the characters' (mostly Pippa's) actions/behaviors/decisions (wait, she swept his behavior under the rug AGAIN?!?!?!).
And that brings me to what irked me the most about this story — the characters, all of whom weren't just unlikable ("loathsome" is probably more accurate), but frustratingly so, to the point that I couldn't bring myself to feel anything but annoyance with all of them (but especially with Pippa). The way Pippa's character was written, she felt like a caricature rather than a real person. It didn't make an ounce of sense to me how Pippa was portrayed as a smart, confident lawyer and doting, assured mother of two young daughters one minute, but the next minute, as soon as her husband Gabe walks into the room, she becomes someone who deliberately buries her head in the sand, ignores all red flags (even the obvious ones that even she herself says are problematic), gets defensive whenever anyone says anything remotely critical about Gabe, second guesses and lies to herself over and over (and over and over and over again), and basically adopts an incredibly naive (not to mention frustratingly stupid and irrational) "I can't live without him so I must turn a blind eye and find excuses for his repeated s**tty behavior regardless of how that negatively impacts me or the kids" attitude. To be honest, Pippa is exactly the type of nonsensical character that I absolutely cannot stand in any story — basically a twisted variation of the "damsel in distress" archetype but a hundred times more annoying because she is actually capable of "saving" herself and getting herself out of the many bad situations she finds herself in, but she chooses (repeatedly) not to do so, then justifies her decisions / actions with one lame excuse after another. To me, it seems that even the author Hepworth finds this behavior problematic, as there is a scene near the later part of the book where Pippa's sister Kat confronts Pippa about the irrational way she constantly excuses her husband's behavior/ actions…Kat basically lays into Pippa, asking her point blank "how long [is she] going to live like this?" When Pippa gives a by-her-own-admission pathetic response (the exact quote is "A pathetic response, I know, but the only one I have."), Kat replies: "Fine. But I can't support you anymore. Not when you keep acting so damn stupid." My sentiments (toward Pippa) exactly!!
As I stated earlier, there were a lot of things I disliked about this book and I honestly only touched on a few main ones, but I will stop here. One thing that I did like was the ending, which I thought was done well, but unfortunately, coming at the tail end of the story, it was "too little, too late." This was also one of those rare instances where, throughout the entire time I was reading, there were multiple moments that I was tempted to DNF the book (I have a rule about finishing every book I start, which I don't break often, so the fact I felt like DNFing is a big deal for me) — but I ended up plowing through it (albeit painfully).
I think I will be taking a break from Hepworth's books for the time being, as this one obviously left a bad taste in my mouth and I honestly wasn't too keen on her previous book, The Younger Wife, either (I detailed the reasons why in my review of that book so if you're curious, feel free to check out that review). But then again, this is just me and my specific tastes — I didn't take to this newest book but many others did, so I suggest checking out those reviews as well for a more balanced perspective.
Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.
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