A review by spiralnode
White Bodies: An Addictive Psychological Thriller by Jane Robins
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
'White Bodies' is firmly placed into the easy reads suspenseful thrillers. It's written well enough to keep the plot moving forward with an interested reader, but it fails to do anything to outshine its competition. So if it is thematically something you might enjoy, by all means pick it up, otherwise it's fair to skip it.
The heart of the story is the relationship between twins Tilda and Callie - Tilda is larger than life, dramatic, adventurous and is emerging as a young actress, while Callie is reserved, protective of Tilda and loves spending her days reading and recommending books to others as part of her job. Their love is obsessive, as it soon emerges that Callie has a past of looking after Tilda a bit too intrusively, spying on her and wanting to be with her so much that she eats her things, like her papers or hairs. So when Tilda introduces her to her new boyfriend Felix, Callie is suspicious. She observes behaviours that indicate control, such as the fact that he cleans Tilda's apartment or offers to pay to renovate it. But surely Tilda is in love, despite what seems like a more distant demeanor and more withdrawn features?
What I liked best about the book is the references to various known crime canon: Alfred Hitchcock films, particularly 'Strangers on a Train', 'Single White Female' or the books by Jo Nesbø. It's one of my favourite genres in all types of media, so I kept looking for clues as to what these mentions might mean.
The directions that the plot took were not thoroughly unexpected, I did anticipate who was at fault but not quite how. I didn't see any noticeable plot holes, nothing that I'd call poorly constructed or doubtful.
But I do wish there was more to it. The whole text went by really quickly, which is a plus for engagement, but instead of some extra scenes being added with characters that were uninteresting and irrelevant, such as Wilf, I would have liked to see more on the inner life of Callie that would give me some insight into her behaviours. The dual storyline set in present and past helped, but there would have been lots more to explore as to her why, the parents' relationship with the two girls, what happened when they stopped living together and so on.
Many thanks to Goodreads Giveaways for my ARC!
The heart of the story is the relationship between twins Tilda and Callie - Tilda is larger than life, dramatic, adventurous and is emerging as a young actress, while Callie is reserved, protective of Tilda and loves spending her days reading and recommending books to others as part of her job. Their love is obsessive, as it soon emerges that Callie has a past of looking after Tilda a bit too intrusively, spying on her and wanting to be with her so much that she eats her things, like her papers or hairs. So when Tilda introduces her to her new boyfriend Felix, Callie is suspicious. She observes behaviours that indicate control, such as the fact that he cleans Tilda's apartment or offers to pay to renovate it. But surely Tilda is in love, despite what seems like a more distant demeanor and more withdrawn features?
What I liked best about the book is the references to various known crime canon: Alfred Hitchcock films, particularly 'Strangers on a Train', 'Single White Female' or the books by Jo Nesbø. It's one of my favourite genres in all types of media, so I kept looking for clues as to what these mentions might mean.
The directions that the plot took were not thoroughly unexpected, I did anticipate who was at fault but not quite how. I didn't see any noticeable plot holes, nothing that I'd call poorly constructed or doubtful.
But I do wish there was more to it. The whole text went by really quickly, which is a plus for engagement, but instead of some extra scenes being added with characters that were uninteresting and irrelevant, such as Wilf, I would have liked to see more on the inner life of Callie that would give me some insight into her behaviours. The dual storyline set in present and past helped, but there would have been lots more to explore as to her why, the parents' relationship with the two girls, what happened when they stopped living together and so on.
Many thanks to Goodreads Giveaways for my ARC!