Book 14/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Silent Patient made me fall in love with the psychological thriller/suspense genre and set the bar sky-high for all other books I intend to read in the genre. An acquaintance recommended this book to me severally and I went into it expecting to love it, or at the very least really like it, but it was just okay.
Behind Closed Doors is a dual timeline novel: PAST, which focuses on Grace falling for and being duped by Jack, and PRESENT, which focuses on Grace getting herself out of the situation she is trapped in. My biggest problem with this book was how much it needed me to suspend disbelief. How Grace came to be in her situation with Jack was not at all believable to me. The depiction of Jack was also not believable to me. His characterization somehow managed to be both pretty thin and a caricature. Yaani his villainy was sooo extra I half expected him to start twirling his mustache and cackling with an evil laugh.
This book isn’t fuelled by any sort of suspense, but by its action, though with time that also got a bit stale. The story became stagnant and took on a bit of a repetitive feel and I kept waiting for something big to happen. Something to make me understand why this book was recommended to me severally by an acquaintance, but it never happened.
I quite liked the ending though. I found it extremely satisfying and loved how it wrapped up the story perfectly.
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 