The Other Woman: Sandie Jones
Genre: Suspense
Pages: 294
Published: August 2018
Adam and Emily adore each other. They're going to get married and start a life together. But one thing stands in their way: Pammie. Pammie is Adam's seemingly sweet mother, and Adam would do anything for her. Then when she meets Emily, she'll do anything to make her go away for good. And when Emily tries to point out how manipulative Pammie is, Adam doesn't believe her.
You know the type: the standard thrilling novel with a relationship gone awry. This book includes both of these things. But this time, much of the dysfunction comes from the relationship with our protagonist and her mother-in-law. I thought that was an intriguing idea! So many people think of it as a difficult relationship, but to make it into a suspense book was an idea that makes me wonder why I hadn't thought of it before.
Readers familiar with the genre will recognize some of the elements. The characters are standard, so much so that I wish there was a little more variety. Emily herself is pretty bland. Then she has her typical best friend who serves as a shoulder to cry on and a party person. She also has a male best friend who is, naturally, gay. I doubt it would have hurt to break from these tropes a little bit, but that's a minor complaint. Because I did still like these characters.
What I had more issue with was getting into the story. These characters drink. A lot. Half the story is spent drinking, often in bars, and that's how the story starts off, with Emily meeting Adam at a bar. SPOILER ALERT (highlight): Emily even drinks when she's pregnant, saying "times have changed." Wait, we're living in some alternate universe where suddenly alcohol is okay for babies? That's not really a "trend." You don't drink while pregnant because it's socially acceptable. That's not a thing. It's not very exciting and I wondered if I was going to finally find a book that I would DNF. The first chapter, mostly, could have been cut. Fortunately, the suspense picks up. Notice the word "suspense." It's more suspenseful than it is thrilling, hence why I picked that genre.
First, a little on the main romantic relationship. That's not exciting either. Emily and Adam don't seem to have a lot in common. Adam can be quite firm with her, especially in regards to his mom, and I saw the red flags appearing not long after the beginning. Emily wonders why people commit so early after they meet, yet that is exactly what she is doing. The only thing they really do to bond is engage in intimate evenings. This they do almost as much as they drink. Thriller aficionados might see where this is going.
Now to the suspense itself, which was good. The heart of it all: Pammie. (US readers: did anyone else catch that her husband's name was Jim?) She does a lot of things to make her seem like the good guy in front of everyone else, while making complaining Emily look ungrateful. Even I was questioning who was right and wrong. Pammie tells lies to make it seem like she is suffering. But is she truly lying, or is Emily making her out to be that way? And what really happened to Adam's former girlfriend, Rebecca? You will begin to make assumptions; not all of them will be what you think. That is one of the underlying questions throughout the story. A subplot involving Adam's brother also takes the stage when Pammie accuses Emily of cheating with him...and not unjustly so. Of course there's a double standard of sorts when Adam appears to be doing the same thing. Hmm...
If anything lessened the suspense just a little, it might have been the transitions themselves, or lack thereof. We'd suddenly be years back in time with no warning, and then eventually this sudden flashback would give way to the present again. I had to reread in a few places to make sure I was on the right track, or to clarify where the story was taking place. There is also an instance where the book jumps forward about seven months. If anything happened with Pammie in that time, we don't know about it. But that also seems like a long time for her not to have done anything. I wish Jones had established the settings and time periods a little more. I couldn't always tell when the book was taking place, or what characters were doing, or where they were. Some of the "reveals" seemed a little forced to me as well. These are often done by characters giving every detail about what really happened, like they are being questioned.
As for the twist, it's similar to others that I've read recently. Still, I didn't guess it entirely and it makes sense. The twist makes a lot of sense after you piece it together, but the issues that are touched on have been overdone in this type of story. SPOILER (highlight): Themes of domestic violence appear again. It's been done before. Yes, the twist works well. But I wonder if a different angle could have been taken.
Overall it was a solid book. The suspense kept me turning pages and me guessing and while not 100% unique, I looked forward to continuing it (after the first 70 pages, anyway). The writing could have been a bit more polished in my opinion, and the characters more fleshed out. But in a suspenseful book, I like my suspense done well, and that was what mattered.
No comments:
Post a Comment