I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of this story was that it would be a fast paced mystery/thriller. While it definitely had a thrill factor, it wasn’t to the degree I was expecting. One reviewer mentioned that this novel was more of a domestic suspense story, and I have to agree with that. I like stories in this genre, but it just caught me off guard because I wasn’t expecting that angle.
Will and Amanda Thorne have the perfect marriage and are living the dream life… until one day, their phone rings. Within 24 hours, Will is missing and Amanda is shattered. Why did Will leave? Is it connected to that mysterious phone call? Determined to find her husband and answer these questions, Amanda ventures into a world full of drug dealers and criminal masterminds. As the truth becomes clearer, Amanda has to face the terrible possibility that the man she loves may in fact be a complete stranger…
This novel was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I definitely didn’t love it. I’m trying to figure out a way to talk about this book without spoiling too many things. So, from the get-go we learn that Amanda used to be a hacker, which was super exciting for me because I’ve always found the dark net and hacking to be an interesting topic. However, the novel really doesn’t get into too much detail on this, and that let me down a lot. I mean… if you’re a brilliant hacker, I want to know how it works and what you do and how it helps you. Also, Amanda really isn’t the smartest cookie. It took her ages to make the connection between the phone call and her husband and even then, she didn’t act on it until close to the halfway point in the story. Most of the doubting comes from her mother, not from her, who is terribly unsupportive and is constantly undermining Will; too much of the same words can get to be really annoying after a while! There was also a love triangle thrown in there that made me cringe a bit. Amanda is out looking for her husband who has literally just disappeared. It’s only been two days so why is she suddenly talking about her relationship with her ex and mentioning buried feelings? Definitely not a great time for that! Based on the description I read, I was hoping for super devious stuff and a crazy plot twist, but the reveal was a let-down and everything was just super predictable after that. The ending was rushed, and I didn’t understand why everything was happening so fast, until I saw that there is a sequel for this novel coming out in May. I hate being left hanging waiting for what happens next, so I have half a mind to read the sequel just to see how the story progresses! Overall, not a bad job for a debut novel but it was definitely not branded right and so, it didn’t meet my expectations.
Happy reading ~
