Emma (SCR)
Written on Nov 29, 2018
The story follows Fi and Bram. It is told from each of their perspectives and also flicks between the present and the recent past leading up to the present day. If you have read any of my reviews before you will know that I love changing POVs so this was something I was happy about. This is done well in the audio too with different narrators for Bram and Fi.
A lot of Fi's story is told via a podcast and on the audiobook, I thought I could hear an extra touch like a tape playing but that might just be me...anyone else hear that? Either way, I liked it. I also liked the social media reactions and hashtags. It made the whole thing more realistic.
At first, you really don't like Bram, well at least I didn't. But as the story progresses you start to understand how he has got himself in this situation. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with his actions but you understand what happened.
The story has so many twists and turns. I really didn't see most of them coming. There was one reveal in particular that I actually gasped out loud. I was so glad I didn't have anything fragile in my hand because I may well have dropped it I was that shocked.
Recently I have read a few psychological thrillers but I sometimes find them overrated. Well, not this one. This book deserves every bit of the hype it's been given. This book got under my skin. I listened to it in 3 days. I stayed up until 2 am listening to it because I just had to. I couldn't stop listening. I was about halfway through when I insisted my friend, who loves this genre, bought it. I am pleased to say she also loved it. Then she passed it to her mum who loved it too.
Now I really have to talk about THAT last line. You may have seen the hashtag going around as part of the marketing campaign for this book and I thought I was prepared for something shocking but man I was not prepared for that ending. It's one of those endings that leave you with more questions than answers. I'm pretty sure there are no plans for a sequel so my guess is that you are to draw your own conclusions. Man, I couldn't sleep after that ending and of course, because it was 2 am I had literally no one to talk to about it!
This book was one of my top books of the year and my only regret is that I didn't read it sooner.