2018 Beyond the Classics discussion

I am starting this book review off by saying that this book was the best book I have read all year and is my favorite book to date. What Remains of me by Alison Gaylin is a fiction/thriller/suspenseful book. I chose to read this book because I wanted to try something different. I always read fiction books, but I have never read a thriller or suspenseful book before so I wanted to try it out, and I was very happy with the outcome.
The plot was extremely interesting. It had so many twists and turns, and just when you thought you had something figured out, the author hit you with a curve ball and changed everything around. It felt as if you never truly knew the characters. The book is about a girl named Kelly Lund. It goes back and forth between the years 1980 and 2010. When she was 17 years old (1980), she was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. They said that she murdered a famous director at one of the parties he was hosting, and she was best friends with his son. Kelly was a good girl until she met a Hollywood girl named Bellamy who was the daughter of the director's best friend who was an actor. After they become friends Kelly is introduced to drugs and partying, which is how her twin sister had messed up her life before. Her sister had killed herself a couple years back. Kelly manages to completely change and becomes a whole different person hanging out with a new crowd. The book illustrates her transformation and talks about all the bad things and corruption that goes on in Hollywood behind closed doors. Then she is convicted of the murder and her life is forever changed. She serves 25 years in jail, and ends up marrying Bellamy's younger brother.
5 years after her release, Bellamy's father is found killed in his study the sane exact way that the director was killed and all eyes go to Kelly. The police question her and everyone just assumes that she did it. In this time, kelly digs deep through the past and finds out a lot of crazy things that you never see coming. There is honestly nothing that happens that doesn't leave me shocked. The 2010 part of the book also sheds light on more of the corruption and shows how everyone, even her "best friend" Bellamy turns on her. Even the ending of the book to the very last page has shocking reveals.
The characters are impossible to understand, not in a bad way though. The point of the story is to never know anyone's true intentions and to always be left guessing. You can form an opinion about someone and it can be changed in a single page. You can think someone is good and trust them just to realize they are terrible, and vice versa. I like how this makes the book suspenseful.
The book was well written and I am amazed how the author was about to fit so much, and to even be able to keep up with the story herself. I think that she is very talented.
I would 110% recommend this book, even if you aren't into thrillers. I think giving it a shot it worth it. I wasn't into thrillers either but that was because I had never tried reading one. I am so glad that I left my comfort zone and tried it out because the next book I read is going to be a thriller.