I Invited Her In by Adele Parks
A Mystery/Thriller, 2019 by MIRA, 384 Pages
What I Didn’t Like:
- Predictable. For me, at least. I’m actually planning on handing this off to someone else to see if it was the writing that was predictable or if it’s my intense amount of reading in this genre that made it so (does that make sense?). Whatever the reason, I literally predicted this entire book, including all plot twists, within the first 10%. Oops.
- Sense of discomfort. I can’t really say why (because spoilers) but one of the plot twists made me super uncomfortable. I did predict it, so I had a chance to get accustomed to the idea … but I wanted to be wrong.
- Stereotypical characters. Not all of them, I suppose. But Abi and Mel feel like they were written to be perfect cookie cutters of some common cliche characters. There wasn’t anything about them that stood out to me as being different.
What I Did Like:
- Setting the mood. This book does a good job of setting the mood you should be feeling with the language. There are moments you feel comfy, like you’re sitting at home with a cup of tea in front of a fireplace. Then there are moments where you feel like your chair is only on two legs and you are about to tip. The language sets the mood exactly right for the story and that is impressive.
- I like characters who are morally gray. I like when characters make wrong choices and it sets off a chain reaction of things that are not at all what they intended. It’s realistic because none of us are perfect.
- Distinct voices. This one is multi POV and I did feel like I was reading different voices with each one. I didn’t have much trouble telling them all apart and even the ones who only had one or two chapters felt different when they popped in.
Who Should Read This One:
- If you like contemporary stories but you want to try a mystery/thriller that isn’t too gorey or gross, you might like this one. It isn’t murder and blood, no one is in emminent danger, but it can still get your heart pumping. We’ll call it psychological thriller lite.