In a lot of ways, this book is very similar to a previous book that Simone van der Vlugt wrote. That book is called 'Schaduwzuster' and that one absolutely earned a five-star rating. This one however, mediocre in every aspect. In fact, it's so average that now, a week after I officiallhy finished reading it, I have forgotten all about it! Luckily, I can recall 'Schaduwzuster' so now there are bits and pieces coming back to me.
This book is about an aspiring author, who is basically stalked and has a couple of people in her close environment die under suspicious circumstances. So there you have it; it's never good if I can sum up the book in one sentence only. The author has done her absolute best to try to the reader to suspect several people of committing several crimes in this book. She failed however. All these 'suspects' were so over-the-top obvious, that your rational mind already ruled them out. And of course, the character who is least mentioned in the book ends up being the perp, of course. Everyone who has read 'Schaduwzuster': this book ends exactly the same.
I think I was supposed to like the main character, but seriously, even her daughter is smarter and more stable than herself. It was all just a fail to me.
If you ask me if there was anything that I did like about this, I'd have to think really hard... I guess the chapters written from the murderer's point of view were quite okay. And I'm glad that finally I get to read a book that doesn't involve animals getting harmed.
I'm giving this one three stars, because I'm biased and usually like all of Van der Vlugt's books. Maybe this one is just one rotten appple in the bunch. Or maybe she ran out of ideas. Or maybe her publisher said "we want usual 'ignorance-suspicion-realisation'storyline, involving murders, cause that is what sells these days!"
This one shouldn't have sold though. It brings bad rep. My advice for Simone in case she runs out of original storylines again: try an online theme/character/plot generator. I'm actually looking forward to reading an alien western taking place at Mc Donald's in Indonesia!
~Zooey Iding