⭐⭐⭐
Pros: It definitely had an eerie feel at times/Verity is certifiably, terrifyingly insane/Hoover has an easy flow to her writing/It had a good hook, caught me right from the start.
Cons: I was more interested in the thriller aspect of this romantic thriller so the romantic plot was predicable/Lowen felt flat as a character, I felt like Hoover was trying to flesh her out but stopped halfway through/Verity's reason for deciding to have her son Crew are still a little foggy/Honestly, the unhinged thoughts, jealousy and rampant X Rated scenes got a little repeteitive, a lot of Verity's "journal" entries became vague after awhile. I kind of started to lose interest.
Full Review:
Lowen Ashleigh's mother just passed away and left her in enormous debt. She's going to be evicted. She hasn't written a single word in ages. And she just saw a Pedestrian's head get crushed like a grape under the wheel of a car. This morning is really not off to a good start. As Lowen stands there in horror, splattered by the dead pedestrians' blood, a man gets her attention and asks her if she's alright. He offers her an escape as he says there's a coffee shop.
Since the Men's room is empty, the swap shirts in there, since Lowen's is splattered with gore. The man is surprisingly honest, telling Lowen of the recent death of his daughter. She feels sympahty and concern for this kind stranger but she knows its a passing thing. They'll most likely never see each other again after this chance, horrific encounter.
Jokes on her though as she finally heads to her meeting and whom should be in the elevator but, the kind stranger Though, it turns out he's not just a kind stranger. Once Lowen finally gets to her meeting, it's revealed that he's Jeremy Crawford, the husband of the best-selling author, Verity Crawford. Lowen is there to hear their offer of a Contract. A dream that any middling author like Lowen, would jump at.
They ask her to outline and write the last three novels in Verity's series. Verity was recently involved in a car accident and can apparently no longer finish the series hereslf. Lowen is nervous, curious, eager, all sorts of emotions but she eventually accepts because honestly, she really needs the money.
When she makes the trek up to their sprawling Vermont home, Lowen can't help but get definite eerie vibes from the whole situation. Verity is reliant on a wheel-chair and taken care of during the day by a Nurse. She's silent and still as a Statue. Lowen meets their five year old son Crew, who's friendly enough but very attached to his mother. Lowen feels obtrusive and awkward, since she's here to rummage through Verity's writing, her most personal thoughts. And here the woman is, unable to even speak.
Lowen tries to push her discomfort aside and tries to get to work. She starts digging through Verity's office. She reads the first books in the Series, trying to get a baseline feel for the characters. She realizes though that she has to learn more about Verity as a person, figure out what makes her tick. So when she stumbles upon an "authobiography" or a journal of Verity,s well...jackpot.
Except it's a veritable, horrifying rabbit hole of cold-hearted, narcissitic, psychotic thoughts and feelings that Lowen never wanted to know. It shows that Verity Crawford is not a tragic soul. She may be lying upstairs, broken but that is not the woman Lowen learns about in this autobiography. She is cunning and cold and Lowen soon starts questioning everything.
This was a rather intense but entertaining read. It got seriously dark at points so, be warned. With the real plot being driven by Verity's authobiography, the breaks in between told through Lowen's POV were a little jarring sometimes. The curve-ball felt kind of rushed and dismissive, like it was thrown in at the last minute, so I guess I just didn't appreciate it as much. It felt like an afterthought. Overall though, this was a sometimes disturbing but entertaining read.
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