Just be careful, okay?
I have always liked the ‘who-did-it’ type of thriller and this is a very interesting one. Sara Shepard knows how to keep her readers engaged and how to set up a good mystery.
Book Review: The Elizas by Sara Shepard
Rating:
Title & Author: The Elizas by Sara Shepard
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Release date: April 17 2018
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Atria Books
Synopsis
When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.
Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?
The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.
I give The Elizas by Sara Shepard four out of five hearts because it is a very well written mystery I just found out what was going on about three quarters of the way into the book, way before Eliza found out what was going on.
Sara Shepard is a great mystery author, it feels like she had all the clues already written out from the beginning. The only note I had here was that usually the clues came through someone witnessing the things happen to Eliza and except for the hand on her back when she goes into the pool at the beginning of the book, are there for all second hand clues. I wished some of them had been from Eliza herself to know the clues are actually there instead of only because someone tells her afterwards (and might be influencing her or telling her what she wants to hear).
Eliza is a young woman at odds with her mother and step-father because of a brain tumor a year earlier. She is about to release her first novel and is stressed out. She knows she has a history of trying to commit suicide, but this one time she thinks for sure it was an attack. You can see this young woman getting more paranoid as the story goes on. I could feel her anxiety and the wish to be believed.
There are a couple of other characters that cross paths with Eliza, like her mother, step-father and step-sister. Also a couple of semi-boyfriends. But they don’t feel as well developed as Eliza.
The plot ends up being complected when The Dots, Eliza’s novel, starts to feel more and more like Eliza’s life. It was very interesting. I liked the chapters switching between Eliza and The Dots, Eliza’s debut novel. It kept the story from becoming boring and it kept me on the edge of my seat.
The end was a bit stupid, it’s some time after the events of the book and Eliza is promoting her next book, when some more questions are answered. But this also puts a seed of paranoia back into her head and I thought that that shouldn’t have been there. The answers to the questions are fine, but then having Eliza go back to paranoia feels stupid and as if there is supposed to be a second novel.
Overall I think The Elizas is a great novel, for every young adult who is interested in something more. The novel is not very dark, it just keeps the pressure on the kettle.
Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!