I had this book by Lisa Unger on my to read list for a bit of time while waiting for the library hold to become available. The title caught my eye and then the summary captured my interest as well. While waiting for the book, I read several blog reviews and online chatter that gave the book mixed reviews. It seems to be an either you love it or you don't kind of book.
Well, I found myself really liking the book. At first I thought I was going to give in and put it aside as I had difficulty keeping the characters straight at the beginning. There are quite a few characters and they take turns as the narrator. In addition to the different points of view, the book also jumps around in time between present day and the past. The timeline in the past moves forward quickly and ends up being brought forward 3 years or so. The present day portion is only set over the course of a week or so. This can be a bit tricky to follow at times. That being said, I really liked the story and the suspenseful nature of the narrative.
Unger builds the characters in such a way that you feel strongly toward them. I felt invested in their stories, particularly Selena's and wanted to see her succeed in finding a happy resolution. There are plenty of twists and turns to the plot during the story. Even though I thought I had figured out the big mystery, there were still surprises right up until the last chapter. I appreciated Unger wrapping up all the different story and character threads. You finished the book with a feeling of resolution, even if you were left wondering how on earth people could behave the way they did in the story. The characters are far from perfect but it is easy to find empathy and some understanding in most of the characters and the relationships that evolved during the story.
If you like psychological thrillers with lots of plot twists then you should enjoy this book. If you don't care for multiple timelines mixed with multiple point of views then you might want to steer clear of this one.
Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Intense til the end
This is a suspenseful thriller that keeps the reader on the edge til the bitter end. Once you are able to settle into the story and keep the characters straight the story flows quite well. If you don’t like books with changing points of view and timeline jumping then this is not a book for you. Under does a wonderful job of maneuvering through both. It is easy to relate to how torn Selena would feel in the circumstances and your heart aches for her little boys. The relationships between characters are well developed and there are twists and turns til the end. Even when you think you have it figured out there are more twists. I appreciate the fact Unger tues up all the loose ends and tells you where characters and relationships stand at the conclusion of the book. Great read if you like psychological thrillers
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Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #30
- Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge "U"
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021 Book #38
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #43
- Cloak & Dagger #CloakDaggerChal Book #30
- 52 Book Club #the52bookclub2021 #25 A Book With Multiple Character POV
- The Unofficial Magnus Archives Challenge #TMARC21 #38. Gerry: about ghosts/MC is a ghost
- BooklistQueen # 43. Psychological Thriller
- Bookworm #50.) Read a book about orphans
- Magic in the Books Book 2 #3 Includes a haunting
- Pick your Poison #11-1 A horror story or thriller
- Medical Examiner Challenge 3 Toe Tags
- Six Shooter Challenge Target # 55 Shot #1
- 52 books in 52 weeks #34 all aboard
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