Another Fast Paced Ride From Sandie Jones
Many moons ago (November of 2017 to be exact), I had the privilege of reading an early manuscript of Sandie Jones's debut novel The Other Woman, and I knew once I finished it that the publishing industry had found something really special. I was completely shocked by the ending, and perhaps that set my expectations to unrealistic standards while going into The First Mistake. Don't get me wrong, this was another entertaining page-turner, but unfortunately I found that it fell into many of the same traps that psychological thrillers today seem to keep doing. Obviously, we've reached a point where it's difficult to find any twists that haven't been done before, and it has been causing quite a buzz amongst readers of what the future holds for the genre. I sympathize with suspense novelists everywhere when I say that it's quite a predicament, and not one that I have an answer for. All that to say, I feel like this book fell into the realm where, if it had been published in an earlier era, perhaps it wouldn't have felt so predictable.
Poor Alice has been living in survival mode for quite some time. After the sudden disappearance of her husband, Tom, she fell down a dark hole of depression and anxiety. Even after a decade has passed, with a new husband, an additional daughter between them, and a successful, thriving design business, Alice is continually batting away anxiety, drama, and everything negative. I can't get into too much detail here, but the story consists of heaps of drama coming from every angle of Alice's life. There are problems in her marriage, problems with friends, problems with her kids at school, and her own personal demons she's battling. It's a lot going on, and I appreciate how the author was able to tie it all together by the ending, but this might have been one of the first ways the book became predictable. With so many moving parts, I found there was really only one set path the story could take, and that took away a bit of the surprise factor by the novel's climax.
The pacing was super fast in this one, and I only found myself dragging a bit when the narrator changes in the middle and gives us a past tense view. The entire middle portion is a huge reason why my star rating went down to a 3; it felt unnecessary as everything we find out in that portion is exactly what I assumed would be written upon starting it, and only serves as confirming a backstory. This was just personal preference, and may work better for other readers than it did for myself. If you're looking for a fun, compulsive read this summer to pass the time, I'd still recommend picking this up. I'm glad I read it, and will continue to look out for more from the author.
Poor Alice has been living in survival mode for quite some time. After the sudden disappearance of her husband, Tom, she fell down a dark hole of depression and anxiety. Even after a decade has passed, with a new husband, an additional daughter between them, and a successful, thriving design business, Alice is continually batting away anxiety, drama, and everything negative. I can't get into too much detail here, but the story consists of heaps of drama coming from every angle of Alice's life. There are problems in her marriage, problems with friends, problems with her kids at school, and her own personal demons she's battling. It's a lot going on, and I appreciate how the author was able to tie it all together by the ending, but this might have been one of the first ways the book became predictable. With so many moving parts, I found there was really only one set path the story could take, and that took away a bit of the surprise factor by the novel's climax.
The pacing was super fast in this one, and I only found myself dragging a bit when the narrator changes in the middle and gives us a past tense view. The entire middle portion is a huge reason why my star rating went down to a 3; it felt unnecessary as everything we find out in that portion is exactly what I assumed would be written upon starting it, and only serves as confirming a backstory. This was just personal preference, and may work better for other readers than it did for myself. If you're looking for a fun, compulsive read this summer to pass the time, I'd still recommend picking this up. I'm glad I read it, and will continue to look out for more from the author.