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Shockingly-twisty, tense and engrossing, this character-driven thriller veers between two equally-fascinating and fractured worlds.
Marisa Grover, twenty-eight-years old, caramel-blonde and an illustrator of children’s fairy tales, is a damaged woman. Abandoned at a young age by her mother, Marissa ‘s short life thus far has her feeling left-behind, profoundly insecure and deeply alone – transitioning from a childhood in which she was “too quiet to be noticed” to adulthood and a permanently unsafe footing, in which she is keenly aware of “the fragility of everything, and the ease with which it could all be taken away from her.”
Kate Samuel, thirty-six years old, is a PR rep for a film company. Petite, bony and stylish, Kate is sharp, intelligent, in love, and desperately ready to take the next step in her life. A step which is not only unexpectedly and frustratingly out-of-reach, but just may be the only thing in Kate’s world that truly matters.
The lives of the two women, each of whom tells her story as a third-person narrative voice in this gripping and unusual psychological thriller, are about to intersect dramatically – a union that will coalesce around the life of our third main protagonist – Jake Sturridge, the thirty-nine-year-old progeny (whose solidity and under-stated charm is clearly appreciated by both of our female leads) of a wealthy and doting upper-crust couple.
Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here), this is a book in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is quite as it seems. Wanting, needing, hurting, fearing – it will come as no surprise that over-burdened minds, struggling with traumas impossible to see past or through, will find themselves playing tricks. Tricks that twist-and-turn and take this plot in directions this reader, for one, did not (at all) see coming.
Skillfully-told and cleverly-plotted, with characters exhibiting the full gamut of morally-questionable and/or outrageous behavior (with motivations the reader may or may not find justifiable), this is a complex and immersive story – interesting and compelling and hard to step away from – all the way up to its neat and unexpectedly-tidy ending.
A great big thank you to @Simon&SchusterCA, @Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
