This domestic psychological thriller follows Carly as she navigates her husband of 25 years, Mark, leaving her for a much younger woman. Mark is the face on a very successful home renovation and design show and Carly always supported him from behind the camera. Mark got his start when he and Carly moved into their 'forever home' - a cliff side house Carly's mother left to her. Now that their marriage is dissolving, Carly makes it clear that she will keep the house but when threats start to arrive it seems like someone doesn't want Carly staying there. Is it Mark's new girlfriend? Is it a fan of the TV show? Is it the handsome contractor 12 years her junior that is working at the house every day?
The character work in this story was really great. We open on Carly and Mark's 25th anniversary party which quickly allows us to see into their current state as well as some flashbacks to how they were over the past 25 years of marriage. The party also acts as an easy way to introduce us to other characters in their close circle such as their kids, Carly's best friend, and Mark's co-host. None of this felt contrived or like we were just getting a big list of people to try and remember - it was very natural and each person was introduced at just the right pace that I didn't have trouble remembering who was who. As the story progresses, we see these relationships evolve and secrets get revealed. I really found even the side characters to be pretty well fleshed out. I think Watson did a really great job at really honing in and telling the reader just enough details about what each character wants or where their loyalties lie in order to ground that character in the reader's mind. I also liked how there were conflicting motives for many of the characters so we weren't entirely sure who was a friend to Carly and who maybe was trying to get something out of her. Carly herself was a very dynamic character who was great to follow around as she navigated through this whole situation. I could really emphasize with her and her situation and while I didn't agree with all her decisions, overall I was rooting for her to 'win' the whole time which I think is key for these domestic thrillers.
I thought the twists and reveals were really well done and well situated which kept the story moving along at a nice clip. There was just enough foreshadowing before each reveal that the tension and anticipation was steadily growing as I read. I prefer to have breadcrumbs or foreshadowing to the twists in thrillers so that even if I don't catch on right away, once the reveal is done I can look back and see what I missed. I'm not a huge fan of the sudden reveal that comes out of nowhere (but I know some readers are). I think there was a good mix of big and little reveals which I liked. I think sometimes thrillers get into a pattern where each reveal needs to be bigger and more shocking than the last and that can build up the tension really quickly but often can overflow into the side of unbelievable or over-the-top. In this case, I think the smaller reveals proved to be more impactful because they were the most constant reminder of something being wrong. I do think the full extent of each reveal isn't fully explored every time, but the smaller twists really kept the overall tension level raised and then the larger reveals came in to add onto that base tension level.
I wish the psychological thriller elements would have been a little stronger. This really felt to me more like a straight up domestic thriller. For every strange happening or threatening package, it seemed like Carly was sure it was Mark/his girlfriend so she never really seemed scared or worried. It almost seemed like these incidents were more an inconvenience than an actual threat. I think Carly being so sure about the culprits (despite not having any actual evidence) lessened the tension in the story. There were times where she thought it could be someone else but most of the time she was pretty sure it was Mark's new girlfriend. There were a few early scares that I really liked but didn't really seem to go anywhere. For example, at one point early on, Carly sees someone outside her house at night and then sees two hands press onto the window. The tension in that scene was great but it was pretty much forgotten about for the rest of the book. At first, I thought maybe that was to plant the seed that Carly might be an unreliable narrator but everything else was so concrete that it ended up being a scene that just didn't carry its weight in the story. In psychological thrillers, I'm really looking for more questions than answers. I want scenes like "I've never told anyone about that, how'd this person know?" or "I changed all the locks, how'd they get in the house?" or even "I think someone is moving stuff around in my house but maybe I just misplaced that very important thing and forgot where I put it". In this book, instead, we get a list of reasons why it was X, Y, or Z person every time something happened which just isn't what I prefer to have in my psychological thrillers.
Immediately after finishing, I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending. Upon reflection, however, I've come to the conclusion that I really liked it and I think it fit the overall narrative well. I did find the ending twist to be the one that I needed to suspend my disbelief the most for which was a little strange. I thought the overall twist was good, but the little details that we got left me with a lot of questions (that I can't go into detail because of spoilers) mostly revolving around how could anyone else not notice what happened. The ending wrapped up most of the plot threads nicely and we got all the answers we were looking for from the main story line which is always nice. I don't need my thrillers to wrap everything up in a tidy bow, but I do like having the main questions of the plot answered. I really liked how the book ended on a mostly cheery note but there was a bit of a sinister undertone in regards to one character that didn't get completely tied up. Since everything else was tied up nicely, this one character felt sort of like a loose end that stood out. I would have liked maybe a bit more of an open-ended sort of ending with some of the lesser plot threads left not quite so tidy. I really liked how the ending mirrored the beginning, in a way, and this gave me both a sense of completion and dread that was a really interesting note to end the book on.
Overall, I really liked this character-driven thriller but found it to be much more domestic than psychological. I thought the reveals were well paced and the ending worked well overall. I did feel like some of the psychological elements could have been stronger and there were a few plot threads that got dropped prematurely but overall this was a really solid read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for review.
Expected publication date is June 4, 2021.
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