thatsoneforthebooks's review against another edition
4.0
✨ Review ✨ Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
This book is WILD - it will take you for such a ride. Katrina Kim's obsessed with her coworker Kurt, and is struggling to keep everything together (getting to work on time, keeping her car from falling apart, cleaning her apartment). As we follow her deeper into this web, something strange is going on, but it's so difficult to unravel the truth and reality from the imaginary.
I liked the way that this tackled mental health issues, as well as the way that it created its thriller/mystery vibes. I think there was a bit of lack of resolution of things in the end that left me a little confused/unsure, but boy did I enjoy the ride!
The vibes definitely cultivate confusion and chaos but that was part of what made this book fun for me. Definitely not an easy read but hopefully one you'll enjoy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4-4.25 stars)
Genre: mystery/thriller
Location: a big (maybe fictional?) city, felt like NYC to me
Pub Date: Jan 10, 2023
Read this if you like:
⭕️ chaotic twisty mysteries/thrillers
⭕️ mental health representation
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!
This book is WILD - it will take you for such a ride. Katrina Kim's obsessed with her coworker Kurt, and is struggling to keep everything together (getting to work on time, keeping her car from falling apart, cleaning her apartment). As we follow her deeper into this web, something strange is going on, but it's so difficult to unravel the truth and reality from the imaginary.
I liked the way that this tackled mental health issues, as well as the way that it created its thriller/mystery vibes. I think there was a bit of lack of resolution of things in the end that left me a little confused/unsure, but boy did I enjoy the ride!
The vibes definitely cultivate confusion and chaos but that was part of what made this book fun for me. Definitely not an easy read but hopefully one you'll enjoy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4-4.25 stars)
Genre: mystery/thriller
Location: a big (maybe fictional?) city, felt like NYC to me
Pub Date: Jan 10, 2023
Read this if you like:
⭕️ chaotic twisty mysteries/thrillers
⭕️ mental health representation
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!
ipekreading's review against another edition
4.0
Are you in need of a very unique psychological thriller/mystery with mental health rep?
Katrina Kim is a college dropout with a dead-end job and OCD that's not too well managed. A co-worker that she has been obsessed with to almost a point of stalking turns out to also be stalking her and commits suicide right after blaming her for it. Katrina soon realizes not only did she not know too much about her co-worker, but her own reality is also questionable.
This book was quite the wild-ride. I not only loved the portrayal of Katrina's OCD and her coping mechanisms, but she was one of my favorite unreliable narrators to date. Her unreliableness was naive as she questioned her sanity and my heart broke for her. Dong also had incredibly vivid descriptions of the dream world Katrina imagined and I was convinced that the fictional book that inspired Katrina's hallucinations must be real. I really enjoyed the distinctive voice Dong brought to the thriller-space and I'm very curious to see what she writes next.
I listened to most of the novel thanks to the ALC i received from LibroFM. I thought the audiobook made the dream world even more immersive and I didn't want to stop listening!
Thank you so much to LibroFM and Hachette Audio for the ALC, Grand Central Pub for the ARC.
Katrina Kim is a college dropout with a dead-end job and OCD that's not too well managed. A co-worker that she has been obsessed with to almost a point of stalking turns out to also be stalking her and commits suicide right after blaming her for it. Katrina soon realizes not only did she not know too much about her co-worker, but her own reality is also questionable.
This book was quite the wild-ride. I not only loved the portrayal of Katrina's OCD and her coping mechanisms, but she was one of my favorite unreliable narrators to date. Her unreliableness was naive as she questioned her sanity and my heart broke for her. Dong also had incredibly vivid descriptions of the dream world Katrina imagined and I was convinced that the fictional book that inspired Katrina's hallucinations must be real. I really enjoyed the distinctive voice Dong brought to the thriller-space and I'm very curious to see what she writes next.
I listened to most of the novel thanks to the ALC i received from LibroFM. I thought the audiobook made the dream world even more immersive and I didn't want to stop listening!
Thank you so much to LibroFM and Hachette Audio for the ALC, Grand Central Pub for the ARC.
sugasbeanie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i had no idea where this story was gonna end up and omfg it was even better than i expected
rosemin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
zedohee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
takes forever to get going (NEVER have i wanted a book to get to the point more in my life) and then once it does, shies away from the deranged intensity it teases—i was so curious and for that? deeply unserious—to give way to a convoluted, overstuffed, and unnecessarily dense read. why was i able to skip multiple chapters only to have the katrina in the exact same predicament all those pages forward. why was everyone but katrina either ornamental or an obnoxious parody. so many twists for twists sake when the narrative was already unspooling. there are a few moments where i could tell there was a carefully constructed story underneath the rambling but that version never quite materialized and definitely didn’t stick. a major let down that didn’t even have the nerve to be gay about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship
cgveary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sabsabal's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0