This book is going to be made into a movie and I'm hoping it stays true to the plot because WOW. What.a.story!!
It's a psychological thriller with a little bit of romance and mystery. It's quite well done!
STORY SUMMARY
Emma is a young, single woman with a live-in boyfriend named Simon. They get burglarized one evening and now Emma wants to move. London apartments are very expensive and she can't seem to find an affordable one that is also what she considers a safe one. Until she learns about One Folgate Street from their real estate agent. Apparently, to live at One Folgate, one must fill out a lengthy application per the architect's request. It's considered a masterpiece and is in the minimalist style: pale stone, plate glass and huge ceilings. And there are rules that come with signing the lease. The architect has full control: there are to be no books, no throw pillows or knick-knacks, no photos or personal effects and definitely no clutter. The space in the house is meant to totally transform the occupants.....and it does.
Fast forward a couple of years to Jane. Jane has just suffered the loss and grief of giving birth to a stillborn baby girl whom she named Isabel. She was going to be a single mom. She decides she needs a fresh start so when she is shown One Folgate Street, she is immediately smitten with it. She is totally drawn to the space and to the creator. But once she moves in, she discovers that this house has a history. She learns about the untimely death of the home's previous tenant.....a woman who looks similar to Jane and who was about the same age!
Soon Jane begins to try to unravel the mystery of the woman's death...only to learn that Monkford (the architect) had a wife and little boy and they, too, died at the scene of the apartment! She tries to figure out which is truth, and which is lies....and in doing so, she begins to follow the same patterns and makes the same choices...even crossing paths with the same people....as the girl who was there before.
Will she uncover the truth about One Folgate Street and how far is she willing to go to get to the bottom of things??
MY THOUGHTS
This book is a winner! The only thing I did NOT like was the description of some of the intimate scenes between the architect and the women, and the use of the "f" word. Seriously, I would give this book a 10 because it is a phenomenal story but those two things alone, force me to grade it lower. There's no reason for the crassness of the F word. Thank goodness it isn't thrown in on every page but I still feel like it was overdone. Also, there are some s*x scenes, which yes, make the story move forward and are important in establishing character development further, but again, it was a bit crass in spots. Other than that, this book is wonderful.
It's exciting and a page-turner. I stayed up late almost every night this past week to find out just what was going to happen to Jane.
The book touches on many themes, mainly about an obsessive compulsive disorder along with a person with a history of low self-esteem. There are many layers of psychological twists and that makes the book move forward quickly.
The book also touches on grief, stillborn births, Down Syndrome, single motherhood, and domestic violence.
A huge underlying theme is deception and what happens when one lie leads to another.
It will be interesting to see if Hollywood sticks to the plot in the book or if they change things. I hope they stick with the plot and with the same ending as the book. It's quite surprising towards the end and wasn't what I was expecting at all!
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature subject matter)
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
1 comment:
Well it does sound like an interesting plot but bummer about the use of language the crass scenes. Hollywood is funny, you never know what you will get. One author who had a movie made out of his book said it was like selling a house. You poured you guts into it to make it the way you wanted but when the new owner gets it they can do whatever they want with it. It's no longer yours and you don't get a say unless they ask.
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