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buchweiser's review against another edition
4.0
Teile der Geschichte sind nicht schlüssig, aber ansonsten ein gut geschriebenes und spannendes Buch.
_rowena_'s review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lmk217's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jaine297's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
abiwalsh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sally0yllas's review against another edition
2.0
Huge TW for sexual assault and rape (both in the book and discussed in this review)
From reading the blurb of this book, I assumed that “top geneticist” Yvonne would eventually be facing murder charges due to some scientific error or something to do with her job that somehow her and her lover had been involved with that had gone wrong. Instead, what I got was a sloppy rape-motivated revenge murder carried out by her utterly bland lover.
Yvonne is a bored and boring middle aged woman who has sex with a stranger she meets one day when she’s at the House of Commons. He tells her literally nothing about himself or his life (it’s implied she doesn’t even find out his name until their subsequent murder trial, which is when the reader finds it out) and from that she decides he *must* be a spy and creates a narrative for him based on her own inane rambling thoughts. The book is written in the first person as Yvonne, with her addressing “my love” which becomes grating very early on.
There is little to no actual passion described in this story of a supposedly passionate affair. After their first encounter, Yvonne says that the one thing she does know “about you, my love, is that having sex with you is like being eaten alive by a wolf”, which really doesn’t sound like a good thing when you think about it.
Yvonne is completely naive and decides that this man (who, it transpires, is called Mark. How boring) must be in love with her as she is with him. At no point does she become disavowed from this belief, even when he betrays her in an attempt to save himself at trial, a move that lands her in prison. She just goes along with his desires - he is aroused by public and/or risky sex, which she expressly states she is not, and when asked about her own sexual desire at one point states she’s into alien abduction. I’m not kink-shaming but I am kink-asking why. Why did the author include this?!
After one such public sexual encounter, at the titular Apple Tree Yard, Yvonne pulls her knickers up (honestly, is there a less sexy word for women’s underwear than “knickers”? It is used repeatedly in this book) and toddles off to a work party.
Following this party, Yvonne is raped by a colleague in a graphic and disturbing scene. Because she has had sex earlier that day with Mark, she is unable to go to the police lest she risk dna evidence exposing their affair, so decides instead to cut this man out of her life. Unfortunately he begins harassing her and eventually she discusses it with Mark and he decides to go and “talk” to him.
Mark murders the man while Yvonne waits in the car, changes his clothes and they drive off. The whole murder is an absolute mess of writing. It doesn’t make any sense. Mark is apparently ex police, and yet decides to only change his shoes and trousers after murdering a guy and getting covered in blood (doesn’t change his top or his socks). He doesn’t clean up or attempt to dispose of the body, he just changes his trousers and shoes then leaves the flat. Even if this was an accidental death, none of these decisions make even the slightest bit of sense considering this character’s personal history. He then gets back into Yvonne’s car, doesn’t tell her anything about what happens and then tells her they won’t be in contact for a while.
The next time Yvonne sees him after this is at their murder trial, and shortly after he completely throws her under the bus in an attempt to save himself. Because the reader is reliant on Yvonne’s descriptions to understand characters, this makes zero sense, as she has only ever described him with glowing praise (though been very sparing with any specifics of *why* she thinks he deserves her praise or affections)
What a completely dull book about a very intelligent but moronic woman and the blank stretch of canvas she apparently had an affair with
From reading the blurb of this book, I assumed that “top geneticist” Yvonne would eventually be facing murder charges due to some scientific error or something to do with her job that somehow her and her lover had been involved with that had gone wrong. Instead, what I got was a sloppy rape-motivated revenge murder carried out by her utterly bland lover.
Yvonne is a bored and boring middle aged woman who has sex with a stranger she meets one day when she’s at the House of Commons. He tells her literally nothing about himself or his life (it’s implied she doesn’t even find out his name until their subsequent murder trial, which is when the reader finds it out) and from that she decides he *must* be a spy and creates a narrative for him based on her own inane rambling thoughts. The book is written in the first person as Yvonne, with her addressing “my love” which becomes grating very early on.
There is little to no actual passion described in this story of a supposedly passionate affair. After their first encounter, Yvonne says that the one thing she does know “about you, my love, is that having sex with you is like being eaten alive by a wolf”, which really doesn’t sound like a good thing when you think about it.
Yvonne is completely naive and decides that this man (who, it transpires, is called Mark. How boring) must be in love with her as she is with him. At no point does she become disavowed from this belief, even when he betrays her in an attempt to save himself at trial, a move that lands her in prison. She just goes along with his desires - he is aroused by public and/or risky sex, which she expressly states she is not, and when asked about her own sexual desire at one point states she’s into alien abduction. I’m not kink-shaming but I am kink-asking why. Why did the author include this?!
After one such public sexual encounter, at the titular Apple Tree Yard, Yvonne pulls her knickers up (honestly, is there a less sexy word for women’s underwear than “knickers”? It is used repeatedly in this book) and toddles off to a work party.
Following this party, Yvonne is raped by a colleague in a graphic and disturbing scene. Because she has had sex earlier that day with Mark, she is unable to go to the police lest she risk dna evidence exposing their affair, so decides instead to cut this man out of her life. Unfortunately he begins harassing her and eventually she discusses it with Mark and he decides to go and “talk” to him.
Mark murders the man while Yvonne waits in the car, changes his clothes and they drive off. The whole murder is an absolute mess of writing. It doesn’t make any sense. Mark is apparently ex police, and yet decides to only change his shoes and trousers after murdering a guy and getting covered in blood (doesn’t change his top or his socks). He doesn’t clean up or attempt to dispose of the body, he just changes his trousers and shoes then leaves the flat. Even if this was an accidental death, none of these decisions make even the slightest bit of sense considering this character’s personal history. He then gets back into Yvonne’s car, doesn’t tell her anything about what happens and then tells her they won’t be in contact for a while.
The next time Yvonne sees him after this is at their murder trial, and shortly after he completely throws her under the bus in an attempt to save himself. Because the reader is reliant on Yvonne’s descriptions to understand characters, this makes zero sense, as she has only ever described him with glowing praise (though been very sparing with any specifics of *why* she thinks he deserves her praise or affections)
What a completely dull book about a very intelligent but moronic woman and the blank stretch of canvas she apparently had an affair with
lisaar91's review
3.0
I enjoyed the twist but it took so long to get there. This book took me nearly a month to read and usually I read one a week
scavengercat's review against another edition
4.0
I have no idea why I liked this book as much as I did, but I couldn't wait to pick it up again every chance I got.