I’ll admit this is quite a slow burn and while sometimes I found myself feeling like certain pieces of the story were heavily drawn out, I also felt it added to the true experience of the main character. The long hours Catherine spent just sitting waiting to possibly hear him come in, the long tedious process of her checking everything constantly. Really worked to put you in her mindset. Also does a really good job showing the rapid descent into this kind of relationship and the abusers ability to isolate their victim and manipulate their entire situation so no one believes them. I really liked our peek into Catherine’s internal back and forth when she’d question her own sanity, her own actions. Almost too realistic at times. Had me questioning everything I’d read to that point right along with her. Worth the read!!

one of the best thriller books i’ve ever read. this book kept me stuck since the beginning, i was always curious to know what would happen next. i loved how the writing was so easy to comprehend. i was very happy with this one

L'ho trovato claustrofobico. La prosa non è delle migliori, onestamente, ma la storia è abbastanza forte da sopperire alle mancanze dello stile che ogni tanto affiorano. Va detto oltretutto che non sono mai stata una grande fan dei romanzi che seguono due fili temporali differenti e che vanno via via incontrandosi. Non ho mai letto una storia di abuso domestico che mi abbia fatto pensare e se succedesse a me?: l'umiliazione -psicologica, oltre che fisica- della protagonista è piuttosto forte e lo sconsiglio vivamente a chi dovesse avere un animo impressionabile o chi, avendo vissuto situazioni anche solo vagamente paragonabili, non abbia voglia di rivivere certe sensazioni perché questo romanzo è grandiosamente credibile. Una volta finito non ho sentito il senso di liberazione a cui corrisponde più o meno sempre il termine di una lettura piacevole: ancora in questi giorni mi porto addosso un sassolino di disgusto e claustrofobia, "grazie" a questo romanzo. Non è un capolavoro, ma affronta temi importanti in una maniera estremamente efficace: talmente efficace che risulta a tratti sgradevole.

I liked it. The writing is very good and descriptive, but the end fell flat to me and wasn't at all what I expected. Anyway, it's a good read.

Crap. Total waste of time. I have no idea why do many people were raving about this...oh wait, yes I do...people are morons and easily pleased. The writing was juvenile at best. The main character a tragic, one dimensional trollop who ends up with exactly the sort of man she was out to get: a control freak abuser. I only read this to the end because I hate DNFing a book - especially if I'm going to slate it later. I think there was supposed to be a 'twist' in the end, but quite how you could call it that when the author was telegraphing the denouement from the get-go, I don't know. I hated everything about this book. It was dull. It kept switching up from present to past and at times I was so annoyed with it, I didn't even care if I wasn't entirely sure which time each 'chapter' was being set it. The main character's 'friends' are unbelievable. The bad guy, one-dimensional and predictable. The whole thing was awful and no one should ever bother to waste time reading this dross. I did it, so you didn't have to. You're welcome.

4.5 stars. probably the best psychological thriller I've ever read. while the pacing was quite slow I loved the authors detail to OCD and PTSD.

Chilling, dark story about domestic violence. I like the dual narrative of past and present and thought it worked well in context. The OCD was a bit too detailed at times, and I would skip over the repetitive scenes, but it served its purpose, too. Some scenes were hard to read because of the twisted violence, but overall, it was a good story and told well. You cheer for the narrator and for Stuart. Plus there's a wicked twist toward the end that tied everything together nicely. I'd recommend reading it.

3.5 This book did things to my heart. Not in a sappy way, either. However, the characters were a bit unbelievable at times.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't really suspenseful until the last 100 pages. Never the less I still liked it. It was very entertaining.