A pulpy, yet entertaining psychological thriller that kept me at the edge of my seat and rolled my eyes at some of its plot inconsistencies.

I consider this novel as something enticing and quick. Loved the premise and the fluid writing style. Being a thriller novel as it is, I find it quite ironic to say that it was a slow burn (despite saying beforehand that it was a quick read). Michaelides paced the book like someone trudging along a treacle in the first half and barreling and somersaulting like a gymnast in the second half. With the right combination of plot, character backstories, and the intentional peppering of clues as preparation for that grand reveal in the end, the book breathed into life with ample thrill and dread. (I guessed that plot twist, which made me insuperably happy, prideful, and content. lol)

However, the character backstory, especially Theo's, was I believed to be the book's Achilles tendon. I find his character to be quite trite and shallow. From the start of the novel, I knew he was this archetypal unreliable protagonist. Maybe in the hands of a more seasoned author would I be tricked to believe his whole character. This was acutely evident towards the end of the novel when

Spoiler

it was revealed that he was the man who kept on stalking Alicia

. All I want to say is that he's easy to read, contrary to what he's been shoving down the readers' throat about his mysterious and inscrutable persona.

I'm not gonna go over the details of the psychiatric ward and all of that, but here's the tea: when I asked my psychotherapist friend about the events on this story, the setting, etc. she was like, "Bitch what? That ain't how we roll in here!"

Overall, this was a solid debut, and I do intend to read more from the author.