Last weekend, my partner and I went to a wedding out of state. Naturally, I went looking for an audiobook to listen to in the car. My partner prefers thrillers; she likes propulsive plots. I filtered my library’s audiobooks to those immediately available and the proper length for our trip. I borrowed two of them and my partner selected this one to listen to. It would turn out to be a poor choice for both of us.

The plot sounded like your typical thriller. A woman comes home to find her husband murdered and is immediately made a suspect. She is forced to go on the run and figure out who has set her up and why. But I would not characterize this novel as a thriller. If you are looking for a fast moving story with twists and turns, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a story that explores how this kind of trauma might affect someone and shows their determination to overcome it, then it might be for you.

In any case, I found the writing indulgent and repetitive. Rather than finding the main character resilient and strong, I found her whiny and weak. This book simply does not follow the thriller model. Now, I know that that model is completely unrealistic. But when I pick up a book labeled as a thriller, that’s what I expect. I don’t expect a psychological navel gazing novel of a person trying to overcome the trauma of her husband’s grisly murder. And that’s my main complaint about this book. It was a bait and switch. I didn’t get what I was looking for in the book. On top of that, the book was way longer than it needed to be. The reveal happens many times and takes too long to be resolved. It is just a terrible thriller. We didn’t even finish it. By the time we go home we had over two hours left to listen to. We bailed. I looked up on the internet how it ended. Trite and predictable. We made the right decision.

My rating: 1/5