My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“I thought about how there are two types of secrets: the kind you want to keep in, and the kind you don't dare to let out.”
----Ally Carter
Amy Gentry, an American author, pens her debut psychological thriller called, Good as Gone which is nothing close to Flynn's Gone Girl instead it has a killer plot that revolves around a daughter and a mother, whose elder daughter gets abducted from her home at the age of 13 without a trace and with an eye witness of her younger sister, but eight years later, on the homecoming day of the younger sister from her summer break in her college, someone rings the doorbell of that home, where the elder girl was abducted from.
Synopsis:
Eight years ago, thirteen-year-old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night.
In the years since, her family have papered over the cracks of their grief – while hoping against hope that Julie will still arrive.
And then, one night, the doorbell rings.
Gripping, shocking, and deviously clever, Good as Gone is perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and The Ice Twins – and will keep readers guessing until the final page.
13 year old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her home under her parent's noses without a trace yet leaving behind an eye witness of her younger sister, who watched Julie getting abducted by a man on knife point from a closet. Now 8 years has passed, and police has found no trace of Julie yet her parents, especially her mother, Anna, never lost hope that someday Julie might come back. And that her hope comes true on the day of arrival of her younger daughter from her college for the summer break, when the doorbell rings and opening the door, they are welcomes by the sight of a shabby and pale looking girl with Julie's attributes. The whole family is equally perplexed and excited upon Julie's arrival, even though the eight long years gap has perturbed the bond of relationship between Ann and her younger daughter and also her marriage with her husband has become heavy upon her. Little did Anna knew that the worst is going to unhappen and that, with the arrival of Julie, her whole world might change for the worse.
The mystery concocted by the author is really brilliant as the plot only gets thicker with tension and suspense gradually through the course of the story line and the major twist or rather say the unraveling of that major twist is strikingly done, and the readers will be left anticipating till the very last page. There are so many small plot twists, that makes the story even more intriguing and engaging enough to keep the readers glued into the pages of this book. Not only that, the author has crafted this mystery with enough emotions so that the readers will be able to connect with the thriller's flow and the characters' actions.
The suburban backdrop of Houston neighborhood plays slightly an important role in the story line that the author has depicted vividly and intricately that will let her readers visualize the scenes from the books unfolding right before their own eyes, not only that, the whole neighborhood will make the readers feel like they are standing right in middle of a quaint and sleepy neighborhood with pools, swing sets, malls, coffee parlors and huge billboards.
The author's writing style is appealing to the very core, as it will only tempt the readers from the very first page to drown into its depth. The dialogues are laced well and strongly with emotions and cutting edge suspense and in short, they are very sharp and that will allow the readers to contemplate with the character's voice and thoughts. Told from the perspective of the main character, Anna and with occasional flash backs and narratives of either the same or some distinct abducted characters, the plot is thorough and has depth. The pacing is really fast, as I finished reading the book in just a couple of hours, thanks to the story's rush and the gripping tension, it kept me on my edges pretty much the entire length of the novel.
The characters are well developed and has enough realism in their demeanor. The main character, Anna, is a sympathetic character, whose life turns upside down, when her daughter is kidnapped and so her relationship with her younger daughter and with her husband goes haywire after the kidnapping, the readers are forced to feel sorry for her. But once the arrival of the daughter, Anna becomes headstrong and begins to see the grays amongst the myriad colors of emotions upon her daughter's arrival.
In a nutshell, this is an immensely interesting and mind-blowing emotional psycho thriller that depicts the bond of a mother-daughter relationship under complex light with a slight touch of slavery and forced prostitution.
Verdict: A riveting psychological thriller about a mother and her once-upon-a-time kidnapped daughter.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Harper Collins India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author Info:
AMY GENTRY is a book reviewer for the Chicago Tribune whose work has also appeared in Salon, LA Review of Books, and the Best Food Writing of 2014. She lives in Austin, where she volunteered for several years with victims of sexual and domestic violence. Good as Gone is her first novel.
Visit her here
Book Purchase Links:
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your feedback!