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It’s been a while since my last book review and I’m incredibly sorry for that. I’ve been having a love/hate relationship with fiction lately, but we’ll discuss that another time.
You know they say you should never judge a book by its cover? Well, I picked this up because of its cover.
Before We Met is a domestic thriller by Lucie Whitehouse, and is said to be the British Gone Girl. I read Gone Girl when it was first released and enjoyed it but it didn’t knock my socks off, but obviously I enjoyed the book more than the film – that’s just a given now isn’t it? As soon as I saw this acclamation of the Brit version of Gone Girl, I had to give it a go.
‘A creepily effective thriller…Nail-biting, spine-tingling.’ Observer
‘A fiendishly spun tissue of lies and charm.’ Independent
‘Whitehouse gets down and dirty, as tense a read as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl…Read in one sitting.’ ASOS
The novel opens with an introduction to Hannah, who is at the airport awaiting the arrival of her husband, Mark. They married quickly, a head over heels whirlwind romance. He’s successful, owns his own business, attractive, he’s pretty much the perfect man; but the first half of the book we witness Hannah’s paranoia. Why hasn’t he come home? Is he cheating? Has he left her?
This questioning of their relationship drags on for far too long, in my opinion. At first I was on board with the anxiety regarding their marriage but after a hundred pages it got on my nerves. I was glad when Mark showed up and explained where’d he’d been. His story, though somewhat plausible had holes, especially since he’d ‘stolen’ all of Hannah’s savings.
Ultimately, Mark had told Hannah that his parents were dead and his brother in prison for manslaughter. But not everything he told her was true. So, Hannah goes on a mission to find out who she actually married.
I was kind of disappointed with this book. I expected exciting plots twists but they were all really predictable, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, and I almost gave up after countless pages of the protagonist whinging about her husband. The ending was wrapped up far too quickly and the only slightly riveting part was right at the end. The concept of, never knowing what happened before you met someone was good and the story could have been so much better.
However, it was a really easy read and I didn’t hate it, so that’s something right?
Rating: 2/5