Firstly I would like to thank the people at Atlantic Books and Readers First for sending me a copy of this book. Although I was provided this book in exchange for a review, all the opinions and views discussed below are entirely my own.
Michael lost his wife in a terrorist attack on a London train. Since then he has been seeing a therapist to try and come to terms with his grief and anger, and help him move forward. But Michael can't move forward, and maybe he just doesn't want to. Michael believes in an eye for an eye, and he's not sure he can rest until he enacts his revenge.
I was honestly so excited about this book based upon the premise because it sounded really interesting, but honestly I found myself quite disappointed with this book. I just really struggled to enjoy the book, and the main character is such an awful person that I could not connect to him in anyway.
The plot honestly feels like it drags on; we get pages and pages of the same thing, and I honestly think you could just cut out 100 random pages and it wouldn't change the plot in the slightest. The main plot itself; of Michael's views on who deserves to pay for his wife's death was actually interesting, you could really see him unraveling as the story went on, and you can see him just emerge into a bit of a psychosis. It brings out real ethical and moral questions which is good, but it takes so long to actually get to the end and that made it really hard to care about this book.
I think one of my main problems is that I did not like the main character of Michael in any way. There are no redeeming qualities about him; and I feel mean saying that considering his wife has been taken from him, but the more we learn about him the more disturbed and angry I became. This is a man who abuses his power in every single way. He physically assaults his students at school, including burning one with acid. WHAT THE HELL. Are we meant to still feel sorry for this man when half of them time we are reading about him dragging young boys around, burning them, and threatening them. I just - completely baffled. And the way he treats his daughter as well; the assault on her early on in the book really upset me, and the way he just ignores her grief and loss for the rest of the book. I'm pretty sure at one point he tells her that he loves the parts of her that are like her mother - as in he doesn't love her as a person, only the bits that represent his wife. What a delightful thing to tell your grieving child. If this character was more likeable it would have greatly helped the book, but he just angered me so much and I had to put this book down many a time and just walk away to scream into nothingness.
I will admit that I do like the format of the book with the diary style of the book BUT I HATED THAT THERE WERE NO PAGE NUMBERS. GIVE ME PAGE NUMBERS.
Honestly overall I just did not like this book and I wouldn't recommend it. I would give this book a warning to people who have recently lost someone or are grieving; I would recommend giving this book a wide berth.
Michael lost his wife in a terrorist attack on a London train. Since then he has been seeing a therapist to try and come to terms with his grief and anger, and help him move forward. But Michael can't move forward, and maybe he just doesn't want to. Michael believes in an eye for an eye, and he's not sure he can rest until he enacts his revenge.
I was honestly so excited about this book based upon the premise because it sounded really interesting, but honestly I found myself quite disappointed with this book. I just really struggled to enjoy the book, and the main character is such an awful person that I could not connect to him in anyway.
The plot honestly feels like it drags on; we get pages and pages of the same thing, and I honestly think you could just cut out 100 random pages and it wouldn't change the plot in the slightest. The main plot itself; of Michael's views on who deserves to pay for his wife's death was actually interesting, you could really see him unraveling as the story went on, and you can see him just emerge into a bit of a psychosis. It brings out real ethical and moral questions which is good, but it takes so long to actually get to the end and that made it really hard to care about this book.
I think one of my main problems is that I did not like the main character of Michael in any way. There are no redeeming qualities about him; and I feel mean saying that considering his wife has been taken from him, but the more we learn about him the more disturbed and angry I became. This is a man who abuses his power in every single way. He physically assaults his students at school, including burning one with acid. WHAT THE HELL. Are we meant to still feel sorry for this man when half of them time we are reading about him dragging young boys around, burning them, and threatening them. I just - completely baffled. And the way he treats his daughter as well; the assault on her early on in the book really upset me, and the way he just ignores her grief and loss for the rest of the book. I'm pretty sure at one point he tells her that he loves the parts of her that are like her mother - as in he doesn't love her as a person, only the bits that represent his wife. What a delightful thing to tell your grieving child. If this character was more likeable it would have greatly helped the book, but he just angered me so much and I had to put this book down many a time and just walk away to scream into nothingness.
I will admit that I do like the format of the book with the diary style of the book BUT I HATED THAT THERE WERE NO PAGE NUMBERS. GIVE ME PAGE NUMBERS.
Honestly overall I just did not like this book and I wouldn't recommend it. I would give this book a warning to people who have recently lost someone or are grieving; I would recommend giving this book a wide berth.