This is going to be a hard book to review without giving away too much plot, but this book is a wild ride in so many different ways. From the narrator to the locations to the intertwined timelines, to the exploration of relationships, infidelity, how people react to it and whether we can really ever know the people we are with, there are so many amazing facets to this brilliant thriller.
The book is narrated by Liv, who has just found out that her husband, Will, has been having an affair. Her seemingly perfect life ripped apart, she decides that they will take a road trip to try and mend their marriage, exploring some of America’s beautiful National Parks. But does a trip in to the wilderness heal or expose the rifts in their relationship, and where does the greatest danger really lie. Liv is a fantastic character to lead the book. The quintessential unreliable narrator, Liv is a deeply flawed and troubled soul dealing with a situation that has rocked her world and it is immediately apparent that she may not be psychologically equipped to cope with what has happened to her, Throughout the book, as we dive backwards through the events surrounding the revelation of the affair, and forwards through Liv and Will’s road trip, all the layers of Liv’s psyche are peeled back, and more and more surprising facets of her character are revealed, so we are always on our toes and never know what to expect.
But Liv is not the only troubled character in this book, demons seem to haunt everyone, secrets are everywhere and it is impossible to know whose version of events to trust and who is telling the truth. The author builds up such a complex web of lies and deceit that, even the most heinous of characters end up with seemingly ‘reasonable’ justification for their immoral behaviour and one of the main questions becomes, who are the real bad guys here, and who amongst them deserves the consequences they end up suffering. Being able to make the reader feel some sympathy and solidarity with characters who are less than clean cut takes some skill, and is brilliantly done here.
The settings of the book really grabbed me too, and perfectly reflected the events taking place. The author makes the teeming city of New York and its vast skyscrapers feel both like a place where it is possible to hide and get lost in order to carry out nefarious deeds, uncaring and impersonal, and a tiny community where you cannot avoid the consequences of your actions at the same time. Then, when the couple hit the open roads of the American West, the vast empty landscapes are actually made to feel claustrophobic and menacing, because of the danger that lurks along every step. The book has an extremely oppressive atmosphere, which really ramps up the tension throughout. There was actually one point where, reading this in bed late at night, one of the WTF Moments (more later) happened, and I actually physically jumped, as I would when watching a scary scene in a movie. Making a book so vivid and immediate is a gift. This book is a joy for an armchair traveller, really bringing a sense of place to the narrative, albeit an ominous one at times.
There were so many themes in this book that are there for unpicking, I think it will reward multiple readings. How well do you know the ones we love? How well do we know ourselves? What are we capable of when under threat, and are we always looking in the right places for danger in our lives? This book has so many twists and turns, and so many things I did not see coming. Just when I thought I could see where things were going, the author spins us off on a completely different track and there was more than one point in the book where I was actually internally shouting, ‘WTF just happened?!!” at the pages. And the ending? OMG. This book is a fantastic and creepy thriller that I read in a single day and had to force myself to set aside in the wee small hours of the morning because I really did not want to put it down.
I absolutely loved this book, it was an extremely rewarding, edge-of-your-seat thriller that did not disappoint on any level. I can’t wait to read more from this author.