Pip Drysdale

The Girl on the Train meets Before I Go to Sleep with a dash of Bridget Jones in this chilling tale of love gone horribly wrong … Any woman who’s ever been involved with a bad, bad man and been dumped will understand what it feels like to be broken, broken-hearted and bent on revenge. Taylor Bishop is hurt, angry and wants to destroy Angus Hollingsworth in the way he destroyed her: ‘Insidiously. Irreparably. Like a puzzle he’d slowly dissembled … stolen a couple of pieces from, and then discarded, knowing that nobody would ever be able to put it back together ever again.’ So Taylor consulted The Art of War and made a plan. Then she took the next step – one that would change her life forever. Then things get really out of control – and The Sunday Girl becomes impossible to put down.

The Sunday Girl

"Any woman who's ever been involved with a bad, bad man and been dumped will understand what it feels like to be broken, broken-hearted, and bent on revenge. Taylor Bishop is hurt, angry, and wants to destroy Angus Hollingsworth in the way he destroyed her. So Taylor consults The Art of War and makes a plan. Then she takes the next irrevocable step - one that will change her life forever. Things start to spiral out of her control - and The Sunday Girl becomes impossible to put down"--

Jordan Heustis

The first half of the book was pretty slow for me. It wasn’t uninteresting, it just wasn’t thrilling. Then the second half hit and it was nothing like I expected!! Make sure you lookup trigger warnings beforehand.

Joana

TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence.

While I was reading the first chapters, I thought it was going to be a story of a poor little woman trying to get revenge on her ex-boyfriend and somehow destroying her life in the process. And the rest of the book would be her moaning over the disaster. But I couldn’t be more wrong! There isn’t a single moment in this book where Taylor (the protagonist) seems to be looking for attention or pity. Her life is turned upside down but still, she doesn’t quit and finds the strength to fight back.

She has just broken up with her boyfriend because he cheated on her. Although he decides to take revenge on her for leaving him by posting a sex tape online. From there, we get to know how their relationship was like, how Taylor reacts to this exposure and the plan that will trigger all the events that follow. At first, she can only think about her retaliation for all the humiliation that he made her go through, but the plan starts to change and become a well thought out idea, and that’s when the story pieces itself together and grows into this amazing, captivating, and intriguing book.

Since we only follow the main character, we only know what she knows and at the same time that she knows, it keeps the element of surprise to a maximum. Despite that, it’s fairly easy to predict some plot points and twists. Although this isn’t a murder mystery that needs to be solved, but instead a slice of Taylor’s life, so I think the passe and the thriller are more important than the mystery part.

Speaking of passe, this story has a great one. It slowed down when it needed to and quickly picked up for a more intense scene which gave a very organic and fluid sense to the story. There weren’t times when I felt bored or that the story was dragging in order to add new information or too overwhelmed because it was moving too fast. It was very well balanced and addictive. Probably since this story is plot-driven – which I prefer – but it still allows you to get to know well the characters. Sometimes with the use flashbacks however, most of the information you get while the story is developing. And even the flashbacks aren’t too long, so the reader isn’t “stuck” in the past learning about the characters while all the action is stopped in the present.

Something I wasn’t expecting is that not everything is neatly tied up in the end. There are a couple of little details that even though they are explained in some way to close everything, it’s not fully explored or resolved. Although the story doesn’t feel incomplete because everything that is mentioned does have some kind of conclusion, it’s just not developed enough as I would expect.

I also can’t do this review without addressing the theme of this story. It’s not mentioned in the synopsis, but as you start learning about Taylor’s relationship with her ex, it becomes clear what type of relationship it is. And I feel I have to disclaim a trigger warning for domestic violence. Like I said this is something that is brought up throughout the story and it can be graphic in a few occasions. It felt like a realist portrait of these types of relationships and it was acknowledged from the beginning that it wasn’t desired.

Every issue aside, when I started reading this book, I was totally not prepared for what was coming in my way. I got completely sucked into this story, this character, and it’s a great debut novel. It’s thrilling, addictive, entertaining, and a reason for me to keep my eye on Pip Drysdale’s next works.

The Sunday Girl

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