Kubica manages to pen this story switching between points of view as well as places on the timeline without confusion and is able to reveal a great deal about many characters in few words. Overall I enjoyed the set up of this story as well as the ending, but I felt the middle of the story was a bit lengthy without much development. It was most likely intentional, but just when I thought the characters were getting somewhere in a scenario or conversation, the chapter would end and the point of view would shift to a different character and part of the timeline forcing me to abandon the momentum I had going in a previous scene.
I do think that the ending of this story was worth the wait and well worth the repeated taunt at some sort of fulfillment in the mid portion of the story, but I do think other books (such as Gone Girl and Girl on the Train) do a better job at keeping a more consistent engagement with the story. When people refer to these types of stories as 'thrillers' or 'roller coaster rides,' I would say with this novel I felt a peak at the beginning, one long plateau, followed by a last peak where as with the previously mentioned novels I feel a ton of bumps along with the massive peaks throughout the story's entirety. Again, I think the ending of this book is very well done and made me want to read the story again (seriously, read the Epilogue...my jaw dropped and I gasped on the subway), but be prepared for a bit of a slow burn with this one!
xxSJ
