I will start by saying that this review will definitely contain spoilers. I have too many mixed thoughts on the book to withhold any facts that someone may not want to know.I put this book down a few minutes ago and my initial feeling was that it had been a roller coaster ride of surprises, wrong assumptions and red herrings. However, when I gave myself a moment to think about it, the ending was just plain bizarre. I read this book for the most part in one sitting, I was glued to it. I was the odd person sat in Starbucks for longer than necessary because she wanted “just one more chapter” and didn't know where else she could just sit in a corner all tucked up and focus on reading. It was a page turner, it definitely had that going for it.
I really enjoyed the writing style, the slow unfolding of secrets and information was very tantalising. I felt like I was given a lot of information about the characters, but never too much, not enough to be overwhelming, just enough little details to paint a very clear picture of who they all were. I didn't actually like any of them, however. I didn't even really like the main character Jane, but I liked to see things through her eyes, which made the book enjoyable. What the book was great at was introducing all of these characters in a way that didn't feel obvious or like a transparent character dump, just to get this person into the story. It all felt natural and had a good flow to it. What was brilliant about this was that throughout the book the story gave me reason to suspect every single character – I'm fairly sure it was that extreme. I was repeatedly going “Aha! It's them!” But then it wasn't. I'm fairly sure the person it did turn out to be, was the only person I didn't suspect. So the writer deserves much praise for that!
What was great about the topsy turvy plot is that I was always intrigued and always in suspense. This is probably why the ending disappointed me, or at least left me with an unsettling feeling of “Was...Was that actually it? Oh, okay then. *shuffles away*” There is actually no motive for why the killer wants her dead. NONE. Except she blames her for the death of Bonnie, a girl she never knew, and who's death wasn't Jane's fault anyway. So we are left to conclude that she is psychotic. However the simple fact is, she isn't, not really. The killer is far too calculating and manipulative to be psychotic. In my opinion psychotic people either do psychotic things because they have completely justified them to themselves, overly justified sometimes even, through paranoia or a sadistic need. Either way, this usually requires a motive. If the killer had monologued through a self righteous speech about how she'd never liked her, never cared and had merely been shaping her up like a lamb to the slaughter just to see how well she could fool those nearest her, then that would have been a psychotic motive. But to justify it with, “You're a bad person, (even though you're not) and I kinda maybe want your boyfriend (even though I've shown no interest) and the fact that you use big words incorrectly annoys me and guess what? Apparently I'm insane” It just didn't work for me. Which was disappointing.
The other character assassinations that occur at the end of the book happen to Ollie and Scott. Ollie apparently loses any amount of sanity he ever had and is willing to attempt to kill someone in a mental institution just because a girl he likes would want him to. And Scott who could have been kept as a good friend is used as a failed love interest and thrown aside as a stalker. O_o Um, what? Apparently all of his nonchalance, his attentive friendship and supportive behaviour covered up the fact he was digging in our heroine's bins and retrieving old straws and tissues. *sigh* I have no idea why he would do this. When he started to become suspicious, in my mind he would have been a better choice for the killer. At least that would have made some sense. Though maybe it would have seemed too obvious.
Another slightly unbelievable thing was that everyone seemed to be in love with Jane. I have never come across a person in reality or fiction who had that many people romantically interested in her. Boys, girls, strangely personified hedges. She had a loser, semi abusive boyfriend, a nice friend/stalker, a murderer with expensive taste in sending her flowers and a short lived rather harsh lesbian kiss, in which she completely took advantage of and abused her best friends feelings and then a caring banter flirtation with a male nurse like character. Kind of hard to understand when you're meant to believe she was unpopular before she styled her hair and bought new clothes.
Meh; it just all felt like the vast majority of the characters were obsessed with her for one reason or another, whether it was love or hate. Few people seemed indifferent towards her. This, in my experience, just isn't that realistic.
One thing that I did love and that did make me tense was the moment near the end of the book where all of the evidence is pointing at Jane actually hallucinating and making all of the evidence up. This was the most unnerving red herring for me, because it seemed like it made complete sense. In my opinion this was the only story line that would have been foreshadowed nicely enough to have made a good reveal, but like the Scott red herring, compared with the actual ending, it may have been a bit too obvious.
Another part I enjoyed was Jane's realisation that she was letting the fact that she was a people pleaser effect most of her current relationships. She was so desperate for people's approval that she ignored her own wants and replaced them with other people's preferences. This was why she fell into so many relationships with friends and lovers that weren't well thought through, because she had a desperate need to feel wanted and loved. This was genuine good character development and it made me like her more as a character. Though this was slightly ruined by the fact that she fell into, yet again, another convenient happily ever after relationship in the last chapter of the book
I think I would still recommend this book to anyone who likes a mystery. As it was a really fun page turner. It's just a shame that to me the person who turned out to be the killer, didn't really explain why she so strongly wanted our main character dead.
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