Official Synopsis:

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it’s the truth?

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

Fans of Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’  and Paula Hawkins’s ‘The Girl On The Train’ are going to devour Alice Feeney’s debut novel.  Equal parts thrilling and mysterious this book will keep you on the edge of your seat long after you read the last page.

This book is a bit different from the one’s I normally review, since not only is it an adult novel, it’s also a thriller.  I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a fan of thriller novels, movies or anything of that nature.  I absolutely hate being scared.

However, when I won this book I was intrigued by the three things we learn about Amber right at the start of the novel.  Those three things are listed above in the synopsis.  Nothing screams unreliable narrator quite like the narrator telling you upfront.

Even though I knew going into the book that Amber was not a reliable narrator I still believed that she was telling the truth on most things.  There are times when she outright lies and times when she simply leads us to believe certain things are true without correcting our misconceptions.  Feeney has proven herself to be a master storyteller, and I ended up enjoying the book more than had thought that I would.

It took a while for me to really get into the book, but then it picked up speed.  All of the characters are ridiculously sketchy and I questioned all of their motives and intentions over and over again.  The connections between characters are so intricate and I loved how that was slowly revealed throughout the novel.

Because the characters are so intertwined and because Amber is such an unreliable narrator, I often got a bit confused since it is impossible to truly know what the truth is.  I can’t say too much about anything specific because I don’t want to give anything away, but I finished the book still curious as to what some characters actually did do and did not do.

Amber and Claire’s true actions and stories are still a mystery, and just when I thought there was some sort of a conclusion coming, there is another twist on the last page.  Thinking back, I’m not sure who is responsible for what exactly which I obviously wish that I knew.

The dynamics between all of the characters were interesting to say the least, especially because we never know if what Amber is telling us is a lie or if it’s the truth or if she made it up but believes that it’s true.  This was frustrating to read since I want to know what actually happened!

Overall, I would totally recommend this book to any thriller and mystery lovers out there because I know that you will definitely enjoy this book.  The ARC states that television rights have been bought and I think this would make a great TV series!  Everything about it screams awesome thriller show.  The book will be released on March 13.

I received this ARC from Flatiron Books through a giveaway.