The Deadening is a fast-paced book that picks up speed as it goes towards the end of the book. The author did a fantastic job of keeping the fast pace up throughout the book. There was a tiny bit of lag in the middle of the book, but I expected that. The author could pick up the pace again and keep it going until the end of the book.
I loved Olivia, even though I wished that more of her “before” the author showed her accident. The way she handled Monty was golden (and it was even better knowing how she was treated). I also loved that she decided she would try and figure out the events that lead up to her head injury.
I was not too fond of Monty. I would even go as far as to say that I hated him by the end of the book. But, as the author revealed things and different aspects of his character, I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. He was so pompous and didn’t understand that Olivia wasn’t the same person. So, I cheered at every little thing that happened to him—even the small stuff.
The storyline about Olivia, her brain injury, and how it happened was interesting. I did figure out who did it by the middle of the book, but I couldn’t figure out why. That came as a massive surprise to me. But it made sense considering who that person was.
The secondary storylines were well written also, and the author did a great job of merging them into the main storyline.
The mystery storyline was fantastic. The author was able to keep me guessing not only about what happened to Olivia but why and who was behind it. She threw out several red herrings (which I almost fell for!!) towards the end of the book.
The end of the book was terrific. Not only was the mystery about how Olivia got her head injury solved, but there were several other mini mysteries solved too. As I mentioned above, I was surprised at who was behind everything.
I enjoyed reading The Deadening. It was a suspenseful read that kept me at the edge of my seat. I am looking forward to reading book 2 (if there is one!!)
I would recommend The Deadening to anyone over the age of 21. It is a clean book (no sex and some kissing scenes). But there are scenes of attempted rape, domestic violence, and drugging a drink.