Wow. This is a fast-paced thriller. Super "who done it" story. The author is new to me.
STORY SUMMARY
Bill Olsson is a recent widower. He's only 33 years old with an 8 year old little girl named Sally. Miranda, Sally's mother, died of cancer not too long ago. He is desperate to provide for his daughter. He is struggling to pay the rent and bills because he has recently lost his job at the movie theater in Lund, Sweden.
Karla, is in her 20s and is a law student who aspires to be a judge. She currently studies and works part time as a housekeeper. Her clients are Stephen and Regina Rytter. They are an extremely wealthy couple, who have no children and how hide behind closed doors. Regina is very ill and hasn't left the house in many months. Stephen is extremely controlling and obsessive. Is he really worried about his wife's health? Or is there something sinister going on? Meanwhile, Karla needs to get her own apartment or a room to rent because the student housing she is in is much too loud with a party atmosphere for her to study. She discovers a room for rent in Bill's apartment! Bill and Sally share a bedroom so that they can earn some rent money. Karla is a perfect fit!
Jennica is an old friend of Bill and Miranda's but she hasn't talked to Bill in years when she and Miranda got in a fight at Jennica's 25th birthday party several years ago. Jennica is on Tinder and meets the man of her dreams. It's Stephen, who tells Jennica that his wife has been dead for a year. They fall completely in love with each other.
As Bill's situation with his financial issues becomes more dire, Karla is forced to make a difficult choice.
And then the Rytters end up dead. Karla is pulled in for questioning, as is Bill. Karla is made to defend some parts of her past that she'd rather not revisit. She wants to put the past behind her.
Every person is hiding something....but could any of them really have been driven to kill??
MY THOUGHTS
This is an on the edge of your seat kind of mystery thriller. It's a fast-paced drama with a lot of tension. I absolutely love how the climax of the book comes to be, and how the author ends it.
The character development is very well done and there are parts of each character that I love and parts that I immensely dislike. Little Sally is the most endearing.
Major themes in this book are: family relationships; marital issues/relationship; addictions; betrayal and dishonesty; secrets; desperation; single parenthood; clash of classes (wealthy vs lower middle class); grief.
This book has some very good plot twists and is hauntingly compelling.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
Sounds good! I will have to look for it. Maybe the library has it. Thanks for the review!
This sounds like something I would like. I'm going to see if the library has it.
Post a Comment