"...he does not stir. She bows her head, looks at him, hugs him to her belly and weeps. No-one could imagine the depths of her misery."
I was very lucky to be gifted this signed copy of an uncorrected bound proof of this book by Elizabeth Masters from Quercus books.
**This Review Contains Spoilers**
Sophie finds herself on the run when she wakes up one morning and Leo, the child for whom she is employed as a nanny, has been brutally murdered. Sophie has no recollection of committing this murder but...she must have done it...there's nobody else that could have done it...right?
We learn that over the course of several years, Sophie's mental health has been deteriorating. It drives a huge wedge between her and her husband as well as losing her a great job. She loses things, forgets appointments, messes up her contraceptive pill, manages to send private photos to places they shouldn't go...and she has no recollection of any of it.
She is too scared to tell her husband what is going on for fear that he might have her put into a psychiatric unit. One day he has a terrible car accident which leaves him almost completely paralysed and in a wheel chair, forcing Sophie to take care of him. Her mental decline continues, she finds herself putting her husband in even more danger...almost burning him to death and accidentally tipping him over..but having no recollection of it.
Eventually, her husband dies in a terrible accident involving his wheelchair and a staircase. Sophie is forced to take a Nanny's job to survive and her mental health still continues to decline.
Once on the run, she takes cash in hand jobs and changes her appearance and name to stay ahead of the law. She comes up with a master plan to marry a man she's met on the internet which will give her a new life and a chance to start again. She meets the perfect candidate, Frantz who is a loving, gentle man who agrees to marry her.
I liked...
Wow the suspense in this book is unreal! This is the first of Lemaitre's books that I've read and I certainly will be reading more. The ability to create true suspense is a really rare quality in an author. There are only a few authors that I've read that have managed to create a really still, quiet, scary atmosphere for me when reading...and Lemaitre is one of them! Today, I received my Tesco order of groceries, and I was so sure I'd ordered potatoes...but there were no potatoes on my order...and I was like "Oh my god...it's happening to me!"
On doing some research, I found out that Lemaitre is a trained psycologist...and this makes total sense. He knows exactly how to portray crazy!
The way the story is told through two different accounts. The first being Sophie's account. You really feel her pain and feel so sorry for her as she's experiencing all these terrible events. The second account is through Frantz's journal. You realise that Frantz is some crazy, mental, bizarre man who has been stalking Sophie and is the sole cause for her mental decline. He describes sneaking into her house and moving things, changing passwords and cancelling appointments and honestly, really honestly I felt absolute outrage. I was sat here on the sofa just yelling "stop it!" into the book. Kudos Lemaitre, kudos.
I like that Sophie still has a small support network, despite being a wanted fugitive. Her father and a close friend of hers both help her when she's trying to sort out what to do with Frantz and both prove to be great assets. I like that.
I really liked the ending! I was kind of hoping that Sophie would get her life back in order and wouldn't let Frantz Von Crazy win, but I really couldn't have imagined such a fantastic ending. Drugging him, dressing him in his mother's wedding dress, him jumping out the window, and you collecting his inheritance? Yes please! Genius!
I didn't like...
I don't know whether it was supposed to be a surprise or not...because it really wasn't...but I pretty much knew from the beginning of Frantz's chapter that he was the man that Sophie was marrying. I think his name was deliberately not mentioned in Sophie's chapter so as to try and stop you making that connection. But I was convinced it was him...that could have been done a bit better. But quite honestly that is my only criticism of this book.
Genuinely I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a suspenseful, creepy, genius piece of writing that will have you guessing, yelling and crying from start to finish. Your opinions and everything that you think you've figured out will do a full 180 throughout the course of the book, Read it!
Have you read this book? Discuss!
Also, I'm nearly halfway through my goodreads reading challenge for 2016. I'm doing quite pitifully but once I have some more spare time in November, I'll smash it!
I was gifted this book but this is a 100% honest review and all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
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I did not understand the ending. What significance did the father's added page to Frantz's file have?
ReplyDeleteI did not understand the ending. What significance did the father's added page to Frantz's file have?
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