Before You Knew My Name

by Jacqueline Bublitz

[Quirky Cat]

Before You Knew My Name caught my attention because it makes big promises – two women, one mystery, and a feminist thriller. Um, yes, please! Also, gotta say that I like the cover. Not sure what it is I like, maybe the colors?

Alice Lee and Ruby Jones are very different women, but both have turned to New York City for their second chance. For Alice, she arrived with only the items she could carry, only to meet a dark fate.

As for Ruby...she's hoping this will be a chance to reinvent herself. Or rather, that is what she had been hoping. But finding a body has a way of changing one's perspective, wouldn't you say? Now she is integrally tied to Alice's story.

"The story," she says, "always belonged to Alice."

Wow. Having just finished Before You Knew My Name, I'm still processing everything that happened. This was one hell of a debut, and it packs quite the emotional punch. It also makes you think and is delightfully poignant. In other words, it is very much worth the read.

Before diving into Before You Knew My Name, I knew that one of the two leading characters would die. This is no secret. I was interested but also hesitant. Sometimes books of this style can be depressing, you know? But something about Before You Knew My Name worked for me.

Bublitz's writing does a brilliant job of capturing complex and complicated themes. Grief, loss, death, consent, the nature of attachment, it's all there – and so much more. It made for a heavy read, but it was also a deeply powerful experience.

If you're looking for a book that will burrow under your skin and make you stop and think, please take the time to pick up and read Before You Knew My Name. It's worth it.

Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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