RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 (3.5/5 moons)
Published: February 20, 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
Format: e-Book
Pages: 304
SYNOPSIS:
They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door.
For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group’s loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive, and there are some people you can’t forget, like Severine, who was never seen again.
Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free.
THOUGHTS:
The story revolves around Kate and her friends who have last seen Severine – the French girl whom they met on their vacation back when they were in college – alive. Few years after the said horrible event, the case reopens again and they are now the primary suspect. As they search for the true killer of Severine, friendship, love, treachery and mystery surfaced along with the truth.
I really like this book. I enjoyed it a lot. Although, I have to say that I expected so much from this book after reading the synopsis. Plot-wise, the story is good and well thought of except for the ending. At some point I feel like the story revolves around Kate’s life issues and not about the mystery of the death of Severine. However, as the story progress you are thrust in the shoes of Kate and you, as a reader, have a glimpse of the life of the 6 people who are involve in the case which would leave you guessing as to who the killer is.
The thing that I did not like about this book is the ending. It felt flat for me. It is so anti-climatic and I am not satisfy with how things wrapped up. I’m still confused as well as to why Kate keeps seeing Severine everywhere. Also, the part where Kate finally realized how the murder was committed is also disappointing; there is no solid basis hence the result of a flat ending. It’s just theories after theories. I wish it was the other way around where there are clues here and there and she would end up piecing all of it together. In addition to that, after the detective bugs each and everyone of them, the killer still escaped. It’s so frustrating how the killer gets away with all the charges that she should be facing.
But other than the flat ending and the issues here and there, I enjoyed this book. I feel like I’ve been a spectator in Kate’s life as she embarks in her journey to find the killer. Getting to know the people around her is fun as well, and do not get me started with the romance. I definitely love the romance in this book. It is one of those just-be-a-couple-already thing. It is not overpowering but serves as a breather for some thrilling scene in the book.
I recommend this to everyone who loves the mystery and thriller genre.
Till next time!
Maria ❤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 