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I Let You Go

Clare Mackintosh

Start date: August 1, 2018

Finish date: August 31, 2018

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Dec 31, 2018 CozyReaderKelly rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-2018

There were so many things about this book that did not work for me.

Plot:
-Not much happens the first half of the book and the only thing that kept me reading was knowing that there was going to be a big twist at around the halfway point. But there wasn't enough happening to really keep my interest during the wait.
-Then after the big midpoint reveal the plot became very soap opera like. Overly dramatic and ridiculous.

Characters:
-All of the characters were so boring. Our main perspective, Jenna, i There were so many things about this book that did not work for me.

Plot:
-Not much happens the first half of the book and the only thing that kept me reading was knowing that there was going to be a big twist at around the halfway point. But there wasn't enough happening to really keep my interest during the wait.
-Then after the big midpoint reveal the plot became very soap opera like. Overly dramatic and ridiculous.

Characters:
-All of the characters were so boring. Our main perspective, Jenna, is like a shell of a person. We follow her most of the book and I still don't know her personality really. She had absolutely no depth.
-The cop we follow (I can't remember his name because I didn't care about him at all) had a narrative that I couldn't care less about. I don't mind following the perspective of the investigating officer, but I'd like their story to be more focused on the case than their personal life. Mostly we followed his marriage, problems with his kids, and interactions with his partner outside of work. I didn't really care about his life unless it affected the case. It just seemed like the author needed to fill the pages so she told us all about him when it wasn't really relevant.
-Later in the story there is a third perspective thrown in and those chapters were horrible to read. Not because of the content, but the writing. I had to constantly reread the sentences because they were structured so strangely. They just didn't flow well with the narrative.

So with all the problem with the plot and the characters the only thing that could save this book were the twists. That turned out to be disappointing too, because I guessed every single one of them. I felt like the first twist was clever and so I bumped the rating up from 1 to 2 stars. Even though I guessed it from close to the beginning, I don't think that one was as obvious. But all the twists in the second half I could guess immediately and they started to get so ridiculous (hence the soap opera feel). I don't always mind guessing the twists in a thriller because I know I read very critically. But if I'm going to be able to guess the twists then the plot and characters have to at least be interesting, and that was not the case with this book. ...more

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