Reviews

It's not that hard to write a book. The words are easy. What's difficult is the ability to breathe life into them. I chose Marka because her words jump. They have life, they have feeling.Chose Marka because I can see myself in her characters, I can feel their emotions.

The same man who wrote those words, those characters, just scratched himself. He's reading my first chapter, in the midst of my freaking love story, and reached down, his hand gripping the front of his pants, the action without thought, a disgusting habit that he probably does ten times a day. This is why I avoid men. This is why I avoid people in general. We are a disgusting, foul race, only a few centuries past smearing our faces with feces and dancing for rain.

You might be wondering, why of all the paragraphs in this book did I chose these two?
The answer to that, is that they perfectly illustrate, why I so thoroughly enjoyed [b:The Ghostwriter|30962267|The Ghostwriter|Alessandra Torre|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505312282s/30962267.jpg|51577432]. It's dark, so incredibly dark, but it's got a touch of humour, that I absolutely adore in these types of books.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn't affected by the story, I damn near started crying at the end. But I think the light touch of humour saved me from bawling my eyes out.

Helena Ross is, in my opinion, a great example of a character that isn't obviously likeable. My hypothises is, that she is the type of character that everyone with some form of anxiety disorders is absolutely terrified that they'll turn into. She's certainly gained a spot on my nightmare list. But somehow, she still manage to worm her way into a warm fuzzy space in my mind. Despite everything, I still like her character, and that's brilliant.
I feel like I get her. I understand why she acted the way she did, and I respect her, as a character, because of the way she acted.

Now, it says that there's 300 pages in the book, but that's not quite true. There might physically be 300 pages, but actual pages with text written on them? Then the answer is no, there's quite a bit fewer than that. The chapters are rather short, there's a lot of space between each paragraph, and at the end of most chapters there's a blank pages before the next chapter begins. So, yeah, the book is not a full 300 pages. However, with all that empty space (and the rather big font size), it makes the book super easy on the eye. I pretty much breezed through the book, of course part of that is because of how engaging it was, but it did help that the layout wasn't all cramped together.

I'm a fan of this, and need more books like it!!

yd514's review

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3.0

Parallel stories about learning to survive after the loss of a precious relative. Where two people who have seemingly nothing in common realize they share the same pains. Culminating with the loss of one’s life and the need to tell the story she’s been hiding before it’s too late.

Well written. Yet wanted more.

kstiglz's review

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4.0

Loved it! Thrillers lately have been feeling very formulaic for me, so I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this book when I picked it up. Helena had great depth of character that was shown through her flashbacks as well as her current day interactions with people. Loved the friendship between her and Mark which was, thank god, kept at just a friendship. Wish more thrillers had characters that you actually get to know instead of focusing on just shocking you.

filemanager's review

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4.0

3.75 stars

This book really isn't a "thriller". The author herself classified it as Contemporary Fiction. It's probably a bit of both. And also kind of a mystery for the reader as you find out what happened.

jennc's review

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5.0

What an intense book! God, it was so emotional. I loved the characters, loved how believable they were. I loved Helena’s dark humor and my heart just aches for her. What a book.

the_heather_martin's review

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5.0

A quick read for me, which I will happily recommend to just about anyone. I was engaged in the story and the characters and I wanted to get to the revealing ending of this well-paced who-dun-it. Of course, the author reveals the WHO early in the story, but the how and why are revealed as the tale unfolds. Interestingly, I found the main character to be pretty unlikeable, yet I empathized with her. Now I need a sequel with Mark as our main character….

theodora7's review

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emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It has been a long time since I enjoyed a book so much! Love love love it. The plot twists, the character development, how easy it is to be drawn into it and be lost in Helena's Ross world. An incredible experience and a great writing form the author!

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