Thrillers

Abigail

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By Magda Szabo

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So I shall tell you, but there will be a price. From this moment onwards, Gina, your childhood is over. You are now an adult, and you will never again live as other children do. I am going to place my life, and yours, and that of many other people, in your hands…Can you be true to your word, even when you feel you can bear it no longer?” “I shall be true,” Gina replied.

As the story of a young privileged and coddled teenage girl’s challenges in adapting to the alien environment of a strict girls boarding school, this book would be entertaining enough. But it is also the story of the adults around her. What makes it special, is that we only see those adults through the shallow perspective of the 14-year-old teenage girl brain. Magda Szabo provides the reader plenty of insights and clues into who the adults in the story really are, their feelings, characters, and their secrets. But they are hidden very effectively from our heroine, Gina, as intelligent as she is, until the end. We must always separate Gina’s viewpoint to figure out the truth and this provides a wonderful tension throughout the book. Of course, her relationship with the other girls is developed as well. Gina behaves badly in her pride and arrogance and their revenge is cruel and implacable but strangely just. Will she be welcomed back into the fold? What will soften their hearts? But childhood games and conflicts take second stage as Gina’s growth progresses. It is 1944 and we are in Nazi-occupied Hungary. There is darkness and horror beyond the gates.

It is a coming of age story. She makes a great leap in maturity especially after her father is forced to reveal why he has separated himself from his beloved daughter and put her in such a harsh and strict environment. Even the reader, unless he read the prologue (which should have come with a spoiler alert,) doesn’t fully understand completely. It is somewhat of a mystery. There are a number of mysteries but it is also a thriller, a historical drama, and a bit of a romance. Is it a fantasy as well? Well, that is one of the mysteries.**5 out of 5 stars**

Rating: 5 out of 5.

May 8, 2020

The Good Sister

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By Sally Hepworth

“Can I say something?” he says. “I know you love your sister, but…” He shakes his head, sighs. “Something isn’t right about her.”

**spoilers**Seriously, don’t read this review unless you’ve already read the book, or have no plans to read it.

I don’t understand why all of the descriptions and promotional material for this book tout that there are two unreliable narrators in this psychological thriller about two twin sisters. Rose starts out portrayed as the caring, protective sister. She is telling her side of the story through a journal that her therapist has suggested she write to heal from the childhood abuse that she suffered at the hands of her cruel sadistic mother. Fern is a librarian with sensory processing issues. She finds loud noises, bright lights, and people being too close very uncomfortable. She does not pick up on social cues and takes people’s words literally. She is very awkward and sometimes embarrassing in her interactions with others, much to the readers’ entertainment. she reminded me a lot of Eleanor in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Although there was a niggling doubt (solely because of the “two unreliable narrators” reviews), I was pretty well convinced who the good sister and who the bad sister was was about a fifth of the way through. The first thing that tipped me off was that at one juncture, early on, Rose refers to “you”, a reader of what is supposed to be her private journal. If she’s expecting someone to read the journal, she must have an ulterior motive outside of self-therapy. Around that time, there is a suggestion that Rose might be gaslighting Fern over not feeding Rose’s dog while Rose is in London. Finally, we realize that the target of the mother’s abuse was always Rose, and hardly ever Fern. No person could emerge undamaged from being targeted like Rose supposedly was. Thus, Rose is outed whether she is telling the truth or telling lies. We only have Rose’s and the trusting Fern’s words to know Rose, while we come to see how Fern interacts with and how she is thought of by dozens of objective “outsiders.”

But even without that Fern is just totally lovable and responsible for a lot of humor in the book. The characters in the book respect and even love her or learn to love her despite her eccentric behavior. She also has a love story. The love interest is Rocco, who Fern calls “Wally” because he looked like the “Where’s Waldo” character when she first meets him. He is another one of Fern’s friends and advocates who endears himself to the reader right from the beginning. We learn very early on that he is much more than whom he seems on the surface.

Well before the halfway point all but the most oblivious reader will pretty much have come to some correct conclusions about Rose. The evidence has been building and continues to build. From there it starts to turn from a mystery into a thriller when we realize that Fern is in some kind of grave danger from her sister. There are no twists towards the end of the story, it’s just that the whole truth is revealed a layer at a time. We don’t understand until the concluding pages just how evil and mad Rose has been all of her life.

I really loved this page-turner for the suspense and tension, the humor, the growth that we see Fern achieve, and the sweet love story. I admire the portrayal of the sisters and the gradual reveal of their characters. We learn that part of Rose’s personality is Narcissism. The crowning revelation is the last entry in Rose’s journal which comes as a bombshell as to just how narcissistic and delusional she really is.**5 stars out of 5**

Rating: 5 out of 5.

June 18, 2021

The Woman in the Window

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By A. J. Finn

THE DEED OF SALE POSTED YESTERDAY. My new neighbors are Alistair and Jane Russell; they paid $3.45 million for their humble abode. Google tells me that he’s a partner at a midsize consultancy, previously based in Boston. She’s untraceable—you try plugging Jane Russell into a search engine. It’s a lively neighborhood they’ve chosen. The Miller home across the street—abandon all hope, ye who enter here—is one of five townhouses that I can survey from the south-facing windows of my own. To the east…—live Henry and Lisa Wasserman, longtime residents; “Four decades and counting,” bragged Mrs. Wasserman when we moved in. She’d dropped by to tell us (“to your faces”) how much she (“and my Henry”) resented the arrival of “another yuppie clan” in what “used to be a real neighborhood.” Ed fumed. Olivia named her stuffed rabbit Yuppie. The Wassermen, as we dubbed them, haven’t spoken to me since, even though I’m on my own now, a clan unto myself.

**Spoilers**

I found this to be a very cinematic novel. Or maybe I was influenced by reading about how it had already been made into a movie starring Amy Adams. Since I approach thrillers of this type looking for the plot twists and being on guard against taking everything at face value, I had pretty much strongly suspected the reveals a good bit before they occurred. There are about 4 of them. It did not detract from my enjoyment of the book at all. I confess I did strongly suspect a few things that did not prove to be the case, however. ***major spoiler***

I really thought for a while that she was being intentionally gaslighted for some nefarious motive and that there really was no murder at all. And I thought her psychiatrist and her ex-partner were in on it! Why else would he prescribe such dangerous drugs and hallucinogens to a raging alcoholic? And upping the dosage. I still don’t really understand how he could do that. He must have known or should have. He visited her in her home for the weekly sessions, after all. he was also the one who suggested she get a tenant.**end major spoiler**

I found it kind of slow at first, and I didn’t get into it right away. At one point I had to force myself to pick it up again. Remembering all of the stellar reviews and endorsements by respected authors and the fact that it was soon to be a major motion picture motivated me.

Good book! And I really enjoyed the references to all of the old movies.**3.75 out of 5 stars**

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

June 20, 2019