Paris Peralta’s husband has been murdered. Covered in blood, and holding a straight razor, she is immediately arrested. Her greatest fear is that the media attention will result in Paris’ true identity and past being exposed by her mother, Ruby Reyes, who is in prison for a similar crime. Ruby will claim Paris was guilty of that murder, too.
The first line of this book sets the tone, and it goes straight downhill from there. The biggest problem with this book is that it was filled, absolutely filled, with unlikable characters. There really isn’t one with whom one can identify or empathize.
Back story can be a good thing. Drowning the reader in back story is not. And a backstory that often makes one’s skin crawl is even worse. Yes, it was understandable and explained why the character was as she was, but one would need something to make one care about the character. Instead, she made some horrendously stupid decisions both in the past and in the present.
Although this wasn’t meant to be a police procedural, the lack of any normal procedure was almost comical. Any author who writes books involving the police should at least know the basics.
There was no real suspense; no breath-catching twists. The perpetrator was obvious very early on in the book, and the outcome was predictable.
THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK was an overlong, convoluted story with characters about whom one may not care less. Apparently, Hillier has written other highly-rated books, but one couldn’t tell that by this one.
THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK
PsyThriller-Paris Peralta-Canada-Contemp
Jennifer Hillier - Standalone
Minotaur Books – Jul 2022 – 352 pp
RATING: Poor / D
Isabel Gibson had left Brinkley’s Island, Maine, far behind and is now living in New York City. Her parents are dead, the family bookstore is nearly bankrupt, and she has broken completely from her sister, Sophie. Still, she can’t ignore the letter which draws her back to the Island, and to the past.
Isabel is a character with whom many may easily identify—“She could even forget that she had once been considered the girl most likely to become somebody when she’d turned out to be nobody in particular.” Many may also identify with being estranged from their family or a family member. Hoffman conveys that situation very well.
As a lover of books, one desperately wants to get their hands on the bookshop and straighten things up. There’s a sense that, as with the relationship of the two sisters, it had once been wonderful. The question is whether it could be again. And then there is Violet, Sophie’s daughter who doesn’t like to read yet compares Isabel to Mary Poppins; Hank the Labrador, and Johnny Lenox, Isabel’s childhood friend growing. Of those, Sophie can be irritating, as she is always in tears. However, the letter from her mother that Isabel finds is worth shedding a few tears over.
THE BOOKSTORE SISTERS is a quick read filled with lots of very good truths. It’s a lovely little, short story, sometimes reading a bit juvenile, but with a good lesson to be learned.
THE BOOKSTORE SISTERS (ShortStory-Isabel Gibson-Maine-Contemp)
Alice Hoffman – Short Story
Amazon Original Stories – Nov 2022
RATING: G+/B+
Posts
