Tiresome and repetitive tirade from a bitter ex-wife hellbent on revenge with a flimsy plot that lacks substance.
Marketed as a revenge thriller, Perfect Ten, is the story of one woman’s quest to even up the score after an acrimonious divorce has reduced her to a shadow of her former self with her reputation in tatters, her sanity questioned and her two children removed from her care. Convinced of her ex-husband’s serial philandering throughout their marriage, Caroline, was driven mad by his constant denials and accusations of jealousy and paranoia. Now living alone in the former family home and self-medicating with online shopping channel purchases and empty alcohol bottles in an effort to alleviate her pain, the trigger for all that to change is the unexpected delivery of Jack’s luggage and a priceless journal that serves as testament to his sexual conquests. Contained within is a detailed profile of every one of his transgressions from his nine long-term affairs through to his thirty-seven one night stands with graphic photos and each ‘lucky’ lady marked out of ten on her performance! As Caroline sets about publicly shaming Jack and showing the world the man he really is as a means to an end to ensuring the return of her precious children, Charlie and Laura, she is, however, unprepared for where it might lead... Soon the police are on her trail and Caroline is going to extravagant and dangerous lengths to expose Jack’s lovers online only for a forthcoming meeting with family services to finally signal a deadline to her retaliation.
Written in a confessional style which reads as an open letter to scheming ex, Jack, the writing has an appealing and conversational style which encourages the reader to invest in Caroline’s story. As a result everything that the reader learns about Jack, his sneering mother, Missy, and his array of chosen women is skewed through the biased lens of Caroline’s bitterness and the narrative does not allow for any objective input. There is a pitiful lack of colour on Caroline’s marriage to Jack given the reader is led to believe they met at nineteen at university and spent fourteen years married to each other which I also found frustrating. Lacking in substance, the plot is a series of far-fetched antics as Caroline exposes Jack and each of his mistresses in turn and I found this all increasingly juvenile and more akin to the behaviour of a naive teenager thinking that social media is the answer to their problems and lacking in foresight. The whole idea of Caroline and Jack’s marital discord turning into a hotbed of discussion and dividing the nation with a Twitter campaign was completely overwritten and the idea that the police would become so involved and devote so many resources to investigating is ridiculous.
As a lead protagonist, Caroline is undoubtedly an interesting character because on the surface she has the qualifications and working knowledge to see through her manipulative ex-husband’s conditioning and lies. Highly educated with a doctorate in psychology she works as a university researcher and is known for her pioneering studies into designing tests to highlight psychopathy. Although the story leads the reader to believe that throughout the divorce and current situation that Caroline has performed well in her job I found this difficult to reconcile with her chaotic approach to life. In truth any empathy with Caroline quickly dried up as yet another chapter ends with what becomes a familiar refrain as she claims her main aim is to get her children back over and above revenge and then she does the exact opposite with another outlandish scheme that targets one of Jack’s conquests and puts the supposed objective in jeopardy. One minute Caroline is convincing herself that Jack’s mistresses knew he was married and are therefore fair game for revenge only to retract that statement and claim in the next paragraph they were similarly duped and I found her portrayal hard to equate to the smart, mature woman that the author was obviously keen to present.
I barely made it through the first third of the novel before my interest waned as Caroline’s narrative became increasingly circuitous and fails to stimulate. There is so little substance and depth to the plot that reading the entirety of the book proved a real struggle and there is little tension or suspense with the final outcome never is real doubt. Some chick-lit readers might find Perfect Ten vicarious entertainment but sadly I found it dreary, drawn out and immature.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Written in a confessional style which reads as an open letter to scheming ex, Jack, the writing has an appealing and conversational style which encourages the reader to invest in Caroline’s story. As a result everything that the reader learns about Jack, his sneering mother, Missy, and his array of chosen women is skewed through the biased lens of Caroline’s bitterness and the narrative does not allow for any objective input. There is a pitiful lack of colour on Caroline’s marriage to Jack given the reader is led to believe they met at nineteen at university and spent fourteen years married to each other which I also found frustrating. Lacking in substance, the plot is a series of far-fetched antics as Caroline exposes Jack and each of his mistresses in turn and I found this all increasingly juvenile and more akin to the behaviour of a naive teenager thinking that social media is the answer to their problems and lacking in foresight. The whole idea of Caroline and Jack’s marital discord turning into a hotbed of discussion and dividing the nation with a Twitter campaign was completely overwritten and the idea that the police would become so involved and devote so many resources to investigating is ridiculous.
As a lead protagonist, Caroline is undoubtedly an interesting character because on the surface she has the qualifications and working knowledge to see through her manipulative ex-husband’s conditioning and lies. Highly educated with a doctorate in psychology she works as a university researcher and is known for her pioneering studies into designing tests to highlight psychopathy. Although the story leads the reader to believe that throughout the divorce and current situation that Caroline has performed well in her job I found this difficult to reconcile with her chaotic approach to life. In truth any empathy with Caroline quickly dried up as yet another chapter ends with what becomes a familiar refrain as she claims her main aim is to get her children back over and above revenge and then she does the exact opposite with another outlandish scheme that targets one of Jack’s conquests and puts the supposed objective in jeopardy. One minute Caroline is convincing herself that Jack’s mistresses knew he was married and are therefore fair game for revenge only to retract that statement and claim in the next paragraph they were similarly duped and I found her portrayal hard to equate to the smart, mature woman that the author was obviously keen to present.
I barely made it through the first third of the novel before my interest waned as Caroline’s narrative became increasingly circuitous and fails to stimulate. There is so little substance and depth to the plot that reading the entirety of the book proved a real struggle and there is little tension or suspense with the final outcome never is real doubt. Some chick-lit readers might find Perfect Ten vicarious entertainment but sadly I found it dreary, drawn out and immature.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.