Second Life

by S J Watson

[Leah]

S.J. Watson was probably one of the first authors I ever heard of who wrote psychological fiction, and it's quickly become one of the most enjoyable genres for me - although a lot of them still leave me angry with regards to their endings. Honestly, psychological thriller authors can do a lot right, but they have no idea how to end a book. I haven't actually read Before I Go To Sleep (though it's on my bookshelf somewhere) nor have I seen the film but I know how lauded it was, how excited people were by it, so when the opportunity arose to review SJ's second novel Second Life, I jumped at the chance when I spotted it on Netgalley, and literally all I have to say (well, not literally) is OH MY FREAKING GOD.

Second Life has one of the most frustrating endings I could ever imagine reading (even more frustrating than Gone Girl). But it's actually so bloody clever that I wasn't angry, I was just left sitting with my mouth hanging open unattractively. It's almost as if SJ Watson wrote the ending with the film in mind, because if Second Life makes it to the big screen that will be the most amazing film ending you could ever imagine. Considering the circumstances and everything that occurred, it was literally the only way to end it and even though I'm dying to know what Julia did, I'm quite happy not knowing because it was never going to end well, and I'd rather not know. THAT my friends is how you write the ending of a thriller. You will hardly believe your eyes when you read that last page and turn over to find there's NOTHING ELSE. But then you'll smile because it actually works.

The rest of the novel itself was a bit of a slow burner. It was gripping, especially as it all started to come together, and while I guessed the identity of Connor's father early on, the last twist was the most surprising of all that I did not see coming. It all sort of meandered up to this big ending, and it was super interesting to see Julia as she got herself tangled up in a web she soon couldn't get out of (and it was all her own fault). It all kicks off with the death of her sister, in Paris, in an alleyway, and Julia is determined to find the killer, which leads her to several dating sites and a man named Lukas. She ends up having a very, very dangerous affair that should have come with a health warning. But, yet again, it was gripping to see sides of Lukas I didn't expect. It was like Julia just couldn't resist, and you could see her digging herself into a deeper hole with no way to get out.

It was so, so interesting to see all the different threads of Julia's life come together - her past life in Berlin; her life now with her husband and son and her dangerous side life with Lukas, not to mention her budding friendship with Kate's best friend, Anna. There were all these different strands and you knew they were all going to merge at some point, but you weren't quite sure how or why. And the resulting explosion is something I won't ever forget. The book was pretty so-so up until the last quarter, building to that obviously, but the last quarter really lifted the book up in my opinion. It really elevated it to the next level and I was so, so impressed. Second Life left me feeling as if my mind had been blown. I thought it would be good, but I never expected what happened to happen. Which just goes to show you how awesome a writer SJ Waston really is. I was so impressed, so enthralled, so eager to flip the pages as quickly as I could, and I can tell already that Second Life is going to be a very big release in 2015, and rightly so.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-second-life-s-j-watson/