Remember how you felt when you got to the end of the movie Sixth Sense? Or how mind-blown you were after reading Gone Girl (or anything Gillian Flynn)? I love it when I am completely surprised at the end of a book.
This novel takes you on a journey with Louise, Adele, and David – sort of a ménage à trois – platonic between Louise and Adele, and not platonic between Adele and David – and Louise and David. Louise, a divorced mom with a young son, meets David at a local bar and they strike up a conversation. There is an attraction between them from the start, and at the end of the evening, David kisses Louise, really kisses Louise – but they go their separate ways before anything gets out of hand. Louise goes into work the next day to find that her new boss is David. Awkward, right? It gets more awkward when Louise finds that David is married. Enter, Adele.
One morning, as Louise drops her young son off at school – Adele bumps into her. Physically. Adele is apologetic and offers to buy her a coffee. Louise realizes Adele is David’s wife from a photo of Adele and David on his desk. Oops. Louise thinks – whew – at least nothing happened with David – and Adele doesn’t seem to have any idea that Louise is David’s secretary.
So before too long, Adele and Louise are good friends. I’m not going to give away anything else, except to say that EVERY SINGLE THING happens for a reason. This book is full of deception in every conceivable way. Every time I thought I had something figured out – surprise! A new, cleverly conceived, cleverly executed, twist. All. The way. Until. The end. The Very End.
The narrators of this audiobook, Anna Bentinck, Josie Dunn, Bea Holland, Huw Parmenter, were so great. Fantastic, clearly articulated character voices. They could have been reading a car manual, and it would have been lovely.
I’ve read four books by Sarah Pinborough in the last couple of months. They have all been excellent – but this was the best. The ending was …… I’m not telling – YOU have to read it.
Book Buzz 