This was such a heartbreaking and emotional story in so many ways yet still so mysterious and chilling - right from the get go! Rose suffers from insomnia and as a result causes a tragic accident in which one of her twins dies. Whilst struggling with the guilt and being ostracised by her family she runs into someone who drops a journal. This journal documents the struggles of a man called Finn who is being stalked. Rose is then keen to investigate this after the police are reluctant to get involved.
Rose is an extremely flawed character yet I still felt extremely heartbroken and sorry for her. Jordan does a great job at crafting so many moving moments in the book, whilst still creating an air of mystery. His writing style is very descriptive; he adds lots of little details that I think some other psychological thrillers lack.
The book deals so well with the theme of homophobia, which unfortunately is something still prevalent today. In this respect, I thought Jordan did something really original with the story. I found the dedication particularly poignant.
I would say that this is a fairly slow paced novel, it only starts to really get going in the last third or so of the book. I didn't mind this too much as Jordan's skill in provoking the emotions of the reader shone through and kept me intrigued throughout. However, if I had one criticism it would be that I didn't find the ending too shocking. I didn't guess who the stalker was, but I wouldn't say I was surprised by who it was. Nonetheless, as this thriller was so strong in other areas that many are not - namely the emotive writing, detailed descriptions and dealing with difficult themes - the lack of shock and surprise didn't bother me too much. I would have also liked a little more detail about Christian's (Rose's husband) life in the end and how he'd been coping/what he now felt towards Rose - but that's just me being nosey!
Overall, I really enjoyed Jordan's writing and am definitely going to give his other books a go. Thanks to Readers First for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rose is an extremely flawed character yet I still felt extremely heartbroken and sorry for her. Jordan does a great job at crafting so many moving moments in the book, whilst still creating an air of mystery. His writing style is very descriptive; he adds lots of little details that I think some other psychological thrillers lack.
The book deals so well with the theme of homophobia, which unfortunately is something still prevalent today. In this respect, I thought Jordan did something really original with the story. I found the dedication particularly poignant.
I would say that this is a fairly slow paced novel, it only starts to really get going in the last third or so of the book. I didn't mind this too much as Jordan's skill in provoking the emotions of the reader shone through and kept me intrigued throughout. However, if I had one criticism it would be that I didn't find the ending too shocking. I didn't guess who the stalker was, but I wouldn't say I was surprised by who it was. Nonetheless, as this thriller was so strong in other areas that many are not - namely the emotive writing, detailed descriptions and dealing with difficult themes - the lack of shock and surprise didn't bother me too much. I would have also liked a little more detail about Christian's (Rose's husband) life in the end and how he'd been coping/what he now felt towards Rose - but that's just me being nosey!
Overall, I really enjoyed Jordan's writing and am definitely going to give his other books a go. Thanks to Readers First for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.