Name: 's review of Fractured Lives by Charlotte Roddy
Item: Fractured Lives
Rating: 1

Charlotte Roddy

Fractured Lives

Thequeen

I believe you are meant to start a review with the things you liked about the book, but unfortunately, I cannot say I actively enjoyed any aspect of this. I was intrigued by the plot, and it was indeed tolerable for the first 5%, and then other things began to derail. This is an incredibly short book, and yet it dragged on and on. It had the same three suspects, which was fine—I don't expect an entire roster and that would be far less enjoyable—but it was the same exact reasoning for each of them, throughout the entire book. If x suspect performed the same action three times, it would be reentered as new evidence three different times, and each time, Mara would act like it was brand new information. Very circular and tiring even halfway through. Most of the interesting action occurs in the last 25%, which I sped through, and I do enjoy thrillers with that specific theme/topic, so I do think I would have enjoyed this more if the rest of the book was written in that style.

Something I did actually like was who the secondary killer was. Though I don't know if it counts, as it has more to do with the fact that he was my least favorite character—subsequently validating me in my hatred—than anything to do with the plotline or writing itself. In fact, I think quite a few thriller fans would be disappointed, because his being the killer was obvious since the first page to everyone except Mara, and from what I have seen, most thriller readers prefer more twisty endings. The main killer, however, was much more unpredictable—I genuinely do not know how that came to happen, even with the insane amount of bad movie villain infodumping that went on. I think perhaps many other readers would like that it's more climactic(?) but reading back I can't think of one instance where it was even hinted that they would be the perpetrator, so it just felt jarring to me.

More on things I did not like: Mara's male identified nature. Two different males came out as abusers to her, and she defended the first and painted his victim as a conniving bitch, and immediately believed the second when he pretended his victim actually just stabbed herself. Of course, I don't know why I expected more from a book where the premise is a woman defending a man accused of murdering his wife—the female characters always end up patriarchy princesses. The pro-life propaganda placed throughout immediately turned me off. This is one issue I absolutely cannot take nuance on. Yes, just because a character says something doesn't mean either the book or the character endorse it, but I simply do not care to read about pro-lifery. Combined with Mara's other characteristics, this was very much a jumpscare each of the six times it appeared.

1.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy.

Thequeen &
Fractured Lives by Charlotte Roddy

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Thequeen &Fractured Lives by Charlotte Roddy

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Thequeen &
Fractured Lives by Charlotte Roddy