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darkness223's review against another edition
3.0
A nice quick read that keeps you guessing till the end really enjoyed this book
purplesky02's review against another edition
2.0
This book started out interesting, but as I kept reading, I became more and more annoyed by the characters. There wasn't a character in the book that I liked at all. It's hard to write more without spoilers.
I couldn't believe the first twist. It was so crazy, it left me saying "what?" repeatedly. I didn't much Chloe at that point and to believe that she would purposely fake her own death and put her husband (who she supposedly loved) through the agony of grief, is just awful. I kept reading because I wanted to see how it would all play out. To find out everything was a setup, including Emma's involvement in Gabriel's life was disappointing. It is sort of a neat premise, but I really couldn't get past the fact that Chloe would be so horrible to put Gabriel through that. Although I'm sure there are people in the world that are like that.
I didn't understand the point of Emma's meeting Ben on the plane at the end. Another reality show? A possible sequel?
I suppose I see how Gabriel could've been so angry that he would kill Chloe, but the way the character was written, I felt he would be more likely to just divorce her, rather than murder her.
I thought Emma's character fell a little flat. She had random bits of personality thrown in, but nothing that made me care about her.
Overall, I felt the book was just eh. I may read more of Ms. Antoine's novels to see how the others are.
Spoiler
I couldn't believe the first twist. It was so crazy, it left me saying "what?" repeatedly. I didn't much Chloe at that point and to believe that she would purposely fake her own death and put her husband (who she supposedly loved) through the agony of grief, is just awful. I kept reading because I wanted to see how it would all play out. To find out everything was a setup, including Emma's involvement in Gabriel's life was disappointing. It is sort of a neat premise, but I really couldn't get past the fact that Chloe would be so horrible to put Gabriel through that. Although I'm sure there are people in the world that are like that.
I didn't understand the point of Emma's meeting Ben on the plane at the end. Another reality show? A possible sequel?
I suppose I see how Gabriel could've been so angry that he would kill Chloe, but the way the character was written, I felt he would be more likely to just divorce her, rather than murder her.
I thought Emma's character fell a little flat. She had random bits of personality thrown in, but nothing that made me care about her.
Overall, I felt the book was just eh. I may read more of Ms. Antoine's novels to see how the others are.
nathancunn's review against another edition
1.0
A case study in how people don't behave.
Plenty of spoilers below, so don't read if you've any interest in reading this absolute car crash of a novel.
Twists aren't good just because they're surprising, they need to actually make sense in the context of the story. The twists in this novel are idiotic. Chloe wasn't dead, it was all just a TV show? Are you serious? For €500,000 a woman is willing to put her entire family, her friends and her husband through 6 months of anguish? Not only that but she's willing to live basically in solitude for the duration? I can't imagine a human being who would find that to be a worthwhile trade, least of all when she and her husband seem to be quite successful and are able to live comfortably. Chloe's opinion of her husband's grieving doesn't really make sense either: she's annoyed that he's moping around, even though that is completely ideal for her situation in the game and any prospect of getting back with her widower husband. She also seems keen for him to sell off her old, expensive clothes. She'll presumably want to wear them again at some point? Or is that what the €500,000 is for?
As for Emma, she was in on the whole scheme too? Okay, let's just invalidate basically her entire story so far. Emma's story is told in the first person, she talks of her dreams of becoming a photographer, and how she's moving away to help that dream. She doesn't mention any TV shows. When she first bumps into Gabriel she just describes him as a man, not "this guy I've been paid to seduce". Why is Emma lying to us? Is she in cahoots with the author in trying to pull the wool over our eyes? There are right and wrong ways to mislead a reader for a twist, having the characters straight-up lie is not the right way. This comes into Chloe's story too, when she's "haunting" Gabriel. She puts glitter paint in the bathroom somehow, despite not being able to go near the house. She messes up his order in the cafe so that her favourite drink gets added to the order. How could she have possibly achieved that?
Anyway, Emma - who originally is made to pretend to fall in love with Gabriel - ends up doing the same thing that literally every single character who has ever been in that situation does she falls in love with Gabriel. Why? Just because he "gets" her.
Emma's story ends with another completely nonsensical twist: unknown to her she is now the focus of yet another reality TV show, which is revealed in the brilliant line "Benjamin takes off his glasses and discreetly checks that the micro SD card hidden in one of the temples is working." How do you even go about discreetly checking that an SD card is working? Did he discreetly take it out, plug it into his laptop and watch back what had just been recorded? And what is the topic of this reality show? This is just a twist thrown in, purely for the sake of there being a twist.
Gabriel as a character is barely worth talking about. He seems to immediately forgive his wife for faking her death, along with basically everyone else in the book. Chloe's manager who was nasty to her prior to her "death" no longer is, because apparently faking your own death is how you earn respect in the workplace. As we later find out though Gabriel didn't actually forgive her and in the end he murders her. Although a murder isn't really necessary, she seems to just stumble towards her own death. He gives her too much to drink and some extra painkillers, and basically suggests she goes swimming, which she agrees to, of course, "No wait for me! I want to go swimming too!" literally just lines after saying "My head is spinning...I'm too weak to sit up."
In all, I don't really know what the point of this book was. Is it meant to be disparaging of reality TV? It paints the reality TV people as comic-book villains who care about nothing but ratings. Yet, in the end, the show is a flop. So what's the point? This isn't a damning indictment of reality TV culture because the book itself even concedes that people wouldn't watch this show. It's funny, because the TV show is just the events of the book, so the author isn't showing much confidence in her own story.
I think this is just cheap fiction trying to cash in on the popularity of books like Gone Girl. It's a shame because up until the twist, the book had me interested, but the twist completely ruined it.
Plenty of spoilers below, so don't read if you've any interest in reading this absolute car crash of a novel.
Twists aren't good just because they're surprising, they need to actually make sense in the context of the story. The twists in this novel are idiotic. Chloe wasn't dead, it was all just a TV show? Are you serious? For €500,000 a woman is willing to put her entire family, her friends and her husband through 6 months of anguish? Not only that but she's willing to live basically in solitude for the duration? I can't imagine a human being who would find that to be a worthwhile trade, least of all when she and her husband seem to be quite successful and are able to live comfortably. Chloe's opinion of her husband's grieving doesn't really make sense either: she's annoyed that he's moping around, even though that is completely ideal for her situation in the game and any prospect of getting back with her widower husband. She also seems keen for him to sell off her old, expensive clothes. She'll presumably want to wear them again at some point? Or is that what the €500,000 is for?
As for Emma, she was in on the whole scheme too? Okay, let's just invalidate basically her entire story so far. Emma's story is told in the first person, she talks of her dreams of becoming a photographer, and how she's moving away to help that dream. She doesn't mention any TV shows. When she first bumps into Gabriel she just describes him as a man, not "this guy I've been paid to seduce". Why is Emma lying to us? Is she in cahoots with the author in trying to pull the wool over our eyes? There are right and wrong ways to mislead a reader for a twist, having the characters straight-up lie is not the right way. This comes into Chloe's story too, when she's "haunting" Gabriel. She puts glitter paint in the bathroom somehow, despite not being able to go near the house. She messes up his order in the cafe so that her favourite drink gets added to the order. How could she have possibly achieved that?
Anyway, Emma - who originally is made to pretend to fall in love with Gabriel - ends up doing the same thing that literally every single character who has ever been in that situation does she falls in love with Gabriel. Why? Just because he "gets" her.
Emma's story ends with another completely nonsensical twist: unknown to her she is now the focus of yet another reality TV show, which is revealed in the brilliant line "Benjamin takes off his glasses and discreetly checks that the micro SD card hidden in one of the temples is working." How do you even go about discreetly checking that an SD card is working? Did he discreetly take it out, plug it into his laptop and watch back what had just been recorded? And what is the topic of this reality show? This is just a twist thrown in, purely for the sake of there being a twist.
Gabriel as a character is barely worth talking about. He seems to immediately forgive his wife for faking her death, along with basically everyone else in the book. Chloe's manager who was nasty to her prior to her "death" no longer is, because apparently faking your own death is how you earn respect in the workplace. As we later find out though Gabriel didn't actually forgive her and in the end he murders her. Although a murder isn't really necessary, she seems to just stumble towards her own death. He gives her too much to drink and some extra painkillers, and basically suggests she goes swimming, which she agrees to, of course, "No wait for me! I want to go swimming too!" literally just lines after saying "My head is spinning...I'm too weak to sit up."
In all, I don't really know what the point of this book was. Is it meant to be disparaging of reality TV? It paints the reality TV people as comic-book villains who care about nothing but ratings. Yet, in the end, the show is a flop. So what's the point? This isn't a damning indictment of reality TV culture because the book itself even concedes that people wouldn't watch this show. It's funny, because the TV show is just the events of the book, so the author isn't showing much confidence in her own story.
I think this is just cheap fiction trying to cash in on the popularity of books like Gone Girl. It's a shame because up until the twist, the book had me interested, but the twist completely ruined it.
hoovera's review against another edition
3.0
I can say that on the plus side it kept my interest and much of it was unexpected. I can't say that u particularly liked the ending though.
stefanilp's review against another edition
2.0
I do not even know what to make of this book. I was drawn in by the premise but ultimately hated it. I would give it one star but gave it two because it was a unique story. I just hated the characters and was dumbfounded by the entire thing.
lindajo's review against another edition
5.0
Picture perfect life - perfect couple. Wife dies and husband is left behind to pick up the pieces and move on. Many, many twists and turns, with a major twist at the end. I loved this book.
laurenc325's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
kburns2004's review against another edition
2.0
Dumb twist, unlikeable characters. It was a free book and I want my money back.
cfred70's review against another edition
2.0
Awful. I only gave it two stars because I managed to finish it. I didn't think I could detest characters more than these and liking the characters is not generally a reason that I like or dislike a book. Can't adequately review this book without spoilers, so I will just say that I wish that would have done something else with my time.