A review by hatchets
Verity by Colleen Hoover

dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Overall, I’d say it was an okay thriller. I had some fun reading it, and I found the formatting interesting. I picked it up because I’d seen it on a list of disturbing books, but I would say it is just more disturbing than most thrillers, but is pretty tame compared to a lot of horror. I did come close to DNFing a few times due to the ableism of the text, but I’m glad that I finished it, as the twist made me reconsider. I can’t go into much detail in the non-spoiler section. 

My biggest problem with thrillers is the fact that they so often rely on mental illness as the scare factor. I nearly put the book down forever when Lowen googled “psychopath” to diagnose Verity. I think the demonization of ASPD is a major problem in fiction, and was annoyed by how much they were playing into it. However, the final twist made me reconsider the ableism of the narrative in a lot of interesting ways. While much of the novel lacked subtlety, the way that we see Verity’s “evil” version of herself seemingly seep into Lowen by the end was really interesting.
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