Book Review: The Distance by Helen Giltrow

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Typically, the thriller genre is not my favorite. I’m not a huge fan of espionage, secrets with secrets stashed inside them and wrapped in a bow of deception, but this novel really surprised me. I couldn’t put it down and felt as wiped as Karla’s computer by the end of my nonstop read-a-thon. The constant spinning of the plot will have you as dizzy as kid in a tire swing by the time you reach the shocking conclusion. While I couldn’t identify with the characters’ lives, I felt completely immersed in this high-risk world of devilish violence and impossible endings. The novel is light on love (a bit disappointing for a romantic like me) and heavy on action, but the thwarted love between Simon and Karla is enough to keep you wondering.
Though I enjoyed the novel, I had a few issues. Its face pace is both an asset and a liability. When I began, I wondered if this novel was a sequel. I felt very lost for a chapter or two before I worked out the characters and their “jobs.” The profusion of description hampered my progress to the point I began skimming large chunks. Every broken pane of glass, every piece of trash, every street name—it felt heavy-handed and overdone, adding an insufferable amount to the length. Also, be prepared for long exposition for each character. Some is necessary in order to create the relationships between Karla and these “extras,” but so many of those back stories felt as extraneous as the Hawthorne-ish description. And the violence is beyond cringe worthy, not for the faint of heart.
4 Stars