Bria Lou Reviews

A former movie star and a group of her family and friends take a spontaneous trip to a private island. By the end of the vacation, one of them has been murdered.  I've read Michaelides' first two books, and I didn't love either of them. I rated them a 2.5 and 2 respectively, out of 5. I pre-ordered this book because I wanted to give the author one more chance, and this seemed like the perfect way to do it. The premise was reminiscent of 'The Guest List' by Lucy Foley, which I loved. But I was completely aware going into this that, if I didn't like it, it would probably be the last Michaelides book I pick up. So yeah, I hate using the word 'hate' to describe the entirety of how I felt, but I really really didn't like this book. The only thing I really liked was the length of the prologue. I'm not a huge fan of prologues, but this one was the perfect length.  My first gripe is with the narrator. I hated his voice from the very beginning, as it was ...

I was looking forward to reading this book. I didn't love Michaelides' first book, 'The Silent Patient', but I enjoyed the twist and knew that I definitely wanted to read another of his works. Mariana is grieving. When she gets a call about a murder on her old university campus she travels to Cambridge to support her niece, pushing back thoughts of her late husband. But when Mariana gets to Cambridge and meets Edward Fosca, everything becomes clear - he is a murderer, and she has to prove it before he strikes again. This book wasn't great. A few problems I had with it were similar to the problems I had with 'The Silent Patient', but this book also comes with its own problems too! There was too much description of things I didn't care about, and things that didn't move the story forward. Setting the scene is great, but beyond that, I would have preferred more plot points than pointless descriptions. Much of the story is centred around Mariana's gr...

  This book has been on my TBR for a really long time, always in the middle of the pile. Not something I was rushing to read, but also not something I was dreading. But eventually the premise hooked me in enough to move it to the top of the list. Alicia Berenson has a seemingly perfect life - until the day she shoots her husband in the face five times. Since that day, she hasn't spoken a word. But why did Alicia kill her husband? And can anyone make her talk? I'm not sure how I feel about this book as a whole. I liked the overall concept, and I liked the twist that came with the ending, but I didn't love the book while I was actually reading it. For a start, I really struggled with the main character, Theo. Because while this is Alicia's story, it is told by psychotherapist Theo Faber, who is trying to get her to speak. I couldn't work out how I felt about him, or what his intentions were. It was not enjoyable being in his head. And now that I have had some time awa...