“…such a great job leaving me shocked in the end.”
~ Under the Covers
I picked this up on a whim because the cover was so interesting and that title was begging me to pay attention. ย I went into it blind other than that and I think there was a certain lack of expectations in reading this that really helped me enjoy this story. ย I didn’t have a mold of a thriller that this needed to fit into. ย I just wanted something with a dash of mystery to read between some fantasy books I’ve been gorging on. ย This fit the bill perfectly. ย If I had to compare the feel of this book to something else it would be BIG LITTLE LIES. ย There’s a mystery we know we need to unveil, but there’s no big thrilling and heart pounding story to go along with it. ย It’s just a series of lies that we need to try and figure out where the truth is. ย Of course, I’m talking about murder… or is it?
This book starts out with a woman in danger, but quickly reverts to telling the story of when that 40 year old woman was just starting out college. ย We get to know this group of friends that are all a bit cliche. ย The rich, spoiled brat who cares mostly about herself, the poor girl trying to fit into a world that’s a bit out of her league and a trusty middle class girl to balance them both out. ย They room together in college and are close until tragedy strikes. ย Their friendship, and them, were never the same after that. ย Now as adults, the damage of their actions will come crawling back out.
Overall, the plot and writing kept me interested throughout the story. ย Obviously when we go back in time and we spend a good amount of time developing that backstory, this didn’t read necessarily like a thriller at all. ย It’s only when things come to a head much later in the book that the genre feel I was hoping for really came out. ย But there was something nice and comforting about getting to know these characters well before hand. ย Understanding what really made them tick. ย Even if, at the same time, I didn’t reallyย like any of them. ย Don’t get me wrong, I was still invested in the story and wanted to get to the bottom of it. ย But I wasn’t going to rush and want to hang out with any of this crowd.
This book deals with bad friendships, jealousy, cheating, lies and the power play of money in a small town. ย There’s no romance, so if you’re on the lookout for that this book had none. ย Most of these characters were damaged in some way. ย Weaving that throughout the story, showing us how each of their lives had so many layers. ย Some happy, some not so much. ย There was just one point that I think was left up in the air without resolution in the end and I wished we would’ve seen what happened there.
But on to my favorite part. ย I can’t really tell youย what it is without spoiling the reading experience for you. ย Suffice it to say my favorite part is the epilogue. ย Why? ย Because the author did this brilliantly in a way that I was completely fooled! ย And right before the epilogue I really thought I was patting myself on the back because I had figured things out up to that point. ย But I didn’t see the epilogue coming. ย And I SHOULD’VE. ย But I didn’t. ย And I can’t say anything else without giving it away, but such a great job leaving me shocked in the end.
This was a super quick read for me and I will definitely look for more books by Ms. Campbell in the future.
[about-author author=”Michele Campbell”]
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Interesting ๐
Thanks for the review.
Great review!!! I’m new to this writer so I will check her out!!! Shared on all my socials!!!
You’ve got me intrigued! Will add to my wishlist, thanks Francesca!
Definitely going to check this out. Thanks for the review!
I LOVE surprise endings!!! I actually took a creative writing class in college and my instructor HATED surprise endings. He said they were silly (euphemism for what he actually said). He also said romance was silly and literally drew a stick figure vomiting on one of my papers at a particularly romantic scene. But I digress. I’ll def give this a try. Thanks for the review!
Sounds pretty good.