"An apparently happy marriage. A beautiful family. A dream home. So what makes lawyer Emily Coleman—a woman who appears to have everything—get up one morning and walk right out of her life to start again as someone new?
Deliberately losing herself in London, Emily quickly transforms herself into Cat. Along with her new name, she finds a new home in a shared house in North London teeming with an odd assortment of flatmates, and a new job as a receptionist.
Soon Cat has buried any trace of her old self so well, no one knows how to find her. But she can’t bury the past—or her own painful memories. As the days turn to months, thoughts of all she’s left behind begin to consume her. She cannot outrun the ghosts that haunt her, no matter how hard she tries to elude them. And soon, she’ll have to face the truth of what she’s done—a shocking revelation that may push her one step too far..."
My Thoughts:
This book is going to be so difficult to share my thoughts on without spoiling anything! If I seem less coherent than usual because of this you now know why. Brief summary of my thoughts: this book was unexpected. I went into reading this one intrigued by the premise but also with a bit of trepidation. I instantly had the question in the back of my mind of what could cause this woman to leave her family behind in order to start a completely new life? Why would she want to start over at all? These questions were constantly running through my mind as I began reading this book and were present for the majority of my reading experience. What made this book really pull me in as the reader was the way the author slowly gave pieces here and there of Emily's past life. Because I had those questions constantly in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but try to figure out what had happened on my own. It was a mystery but not the typical type of mystery that I am so used to reading. Instead of figuring out the whodunnit, we were trying to discover what had really happened to Emily that caused her to just leave her life behind. I've never read another book like this!
Another thing that really intrigued me with this book was Emily or Cat herself (for purposes of this review I am just going to call her Emily). She was almost a bit of an unreliable narrator at times because she works so hard to suppress her memories from her previous life. I constantly felt like her actions and thoughts gave me more questions rather than answers. The author slowly built this atmosphere that was so intense by the end of the book...I had to force myself to keep reading and not stop to peek at the ending. I'm so glad that I held out though because it was completely worth the wait. I won't say more than that as I don't want to give anything at all away. This is a book to be experienced on your own without any spoilers or preconceived notions. Just read it! I also couldn't help but appreciate how the author managed to keep me so connected to this book even when I didn't always particularly like Emily's character. There were times when she annoyed me, where I couldn't understand the decisions that she was making, but yet I didn't want to stop reading. I just knew that there had to be reasons why she was making the choices that she was. I hate to make the comparison but it reminded me a bit of Gillian Flynn's writing where there is just that compelling factor that keeps you reading no matter what. That feeling was definitely in this book and by the end I knew exactly why!
Overall, I really ended up enjoying my reading experience with this book and am left eager for more! This is definitely an author to watch in my opinion! I went into this book expecting a thriller of a different sort and was pleased to get a book that completely exceeded my expectations in an entirely different way! Who out there has read this one?? I would love to discuss with others! Definitely a recommended read- one that I would give out 4.5 out of 5 stars too if I still did ratings.
Bottom Line: A book that kept me guessing and unable to stop reading.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book as part of a TLC blog tour thanks to the publisher.
You make this sound so good! I love books like this. I think I actually have this one too . . . I do! I will move it up in my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteYou know I am all for a mystery that when you finish all you want to do is talk about it, definitely adding to the TBR list, sounds fantastic and a little different too.
ReplyDeleteSam, you do make this sound like an incredible read. Excellent, enthusiastic review!
ReplyDeleteSounds intriguing and I do wonder why she would leave her family like that. Sounds like a good one, got to like those unreliable narrators.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!