This is yet another thriller that uses cheating as a plot device.
The twists were interesting so I am going to give this a higher rating than I would normally, however,
We need to talk about this.
[ My first issue with this book is the girl on girl fighting over a man or punishing a woman for the sins of a man. One of the things I noticed rather early on was over explanation within Alice’s thoughts. There are multiple times that she thinks about something as a possibility or as an odd occurrence and then explains it away in the next sentence. For example, she goes to dinner with Beth and ponders briefly on the fact that Nathan and Beth haven’t met. So during Olivia’s birthday party, when Nathan and Beth see each other for the first time and Nathan is shocked to see her there, we are to recall that, but it would have been more effective without that little aside. There was no need to spell that out.
Another thing that I noticed was that infidelity played a large role in this book. I’m noticing that more and more books have this theme or use this as a plot device. The implication that Nathan is cheating is used to make Alice start to question his loyalty after 10 years. In the end, he has a bigger betrayal planned.
The minute that Japan was introduced and then the developers were pulling out of the project, I knew it was a scam. Why on earth would she not get him to sign a prenuptial agreement? Why would you stay together for the children if you don’t trust someone? There were multiple instances when she is parenting and she thinks that she sounds just like her mother. Except we don’t get any Mother back story, I think that could have added a layer of complexity.
There were a couple of phrases where think and thing were switched out but I don’t know if that was a British thing or what.
As for Beth, I skipped over and skimmed some of her chapters in part two. I was completely over how stupid she was and trusting with someone that she knew for six months, which should be argued considered less time because Thomas was always MIA. Beth was completely one dimensional. And instead of being shown why she was so trusting, we were just shown obvious incidents when she should have seen red flags but didn’t. She says she doesn’t want a serious relationship when hooking up with Thomas but then gives him the keys to her apartment and is so ensnared by his looks and the sex that she allows him to gaslight her. We are not given anything besides her father dying to create an emotional connection with her.
As for the twist at the end, it caught me off guard. But Alice’s evasiveness despite being so fevered to find the truth doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The whole plot would be unraveled by two people meeting. Beth having a change of heart at the end of the book, after playing this game for 3 years, is so sudden. The “us girls need to stick together” at the end was great but why doesn't anyone ever call the cops when they are in trouble in these thrillers?
Call the cops. Especially if you are confronting someone who is doing something illegal. Call the freaking cops.
The twists were interesting so I am going to give this a higher rating than I would normally, however,
We need to talk about this.
[ My first issue with this book is the girl on girl fighting over a man or punishing a woman for the sins of a man. One of the things I noticed rather early on was over explanation within Alice’s thoughts. There are multiple times that she thinks about something as a possibility or as an odd occurrence and then explains it away in the next sentence. For example, she goes to dinner with Beth and ponders briefly on the fact that Nathan and Beth haven’t met. So during Olivia’s birthday party, when Nathan and Beth see each other for the first time and Nathan is shocked to see her there, we are to recall that, but it would have been more effective without that little aside. There was no need to spell that out.
Another thing that I noticed was that infidelity played a large role in this book. I’m noticing that more and more books have this theme or use this as a plot device. The implication that Nathan is cheating is used to make Alice start to question his loyalty after 10 years. In the end, he has a bigger betrayal planned.
The minute that Japan was introduced and then the developers were pulling out of the project, I knew it was a scam. Why on earth would she not get him to sign a prenuptial agreement? Why would you stay together for the children if you don’t trust someone? There were multiple instances when she is parenting and she thinks that she sounds just like her mother. Except we don’t get any Mother back story, I think that could have added a layer of complexity.
There were a couple of phrases where think and thing were switched out but I don’t know if that was a British thing or what.
As for Beth, I skipped over and skimmed some of her chapters in part two. I was completely over how stupid she was and trusting with someone that she knew for six months, which should be argued considered less time because Thomas was always MIA. Beth was completely one dimensional. And instead of being shown why she was so trusting, we were just shown obvious incidents when she should have seen red flags but didn’t. She says she doesn’t want a serious relationship when hooking up with Thomas but then gives him the keys to her apartment and is so ensnared by his looks and the sex that she allows him to gaslight her. We are not given anything besides her father dying to create an emotional connection with her.
As for the twist at the end, it caught me off guard. But Alice’s evasiveness despite being so fevered to find the truth doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The whole plot would be unraveled by two people meeting. Beth having a change of heart at the end of the book, after playing this game for 3 years, is so sudden. The “us girls need to stick together” at the end was great but why doesn't anyone ever call the cops when they are in trouble in these thrillers?
Call the cops. Especially if you are confronting someone who is doing something illegal. Call the freaking cops.