Emma In the Night (Wendy Walker)

Emma In the Night

I have to say, Book of the Month Club has been quite the find for me. I look forward every first of the month to jumping on the website and seeing what the choices are. Last month (September, I mean) I was surprised to see that one of them had been chosen by a guest author, Krysten Ritter, who you probably know better as Jessica Jones (from Jessica Jones) or Jane Margolis (from Breaking Bad). I figured, what the hell, Jessica Jones is my spirit animal, so I may as well give it a try.

Ohemgee.

I read the book within twenty four hours of starting it. I could NOT put the damn thing down. (And that's really saying something because my hands have been KILLING me lately so it was actually super hard for me to pick the damn thing UP.)

So the premise seems pretty simple: three years ago two sisters disappeared into the night. Now, one of them has returned. And she is, like, SUPER unhelpful and teenager-like about trying to find the other one. BUT OF COURSE THERE IS A TWIST. There's actually, like, three, but I'm not telling you about a damn one of them.

This is a great example of an unreliable narrator because from the very beginning she frames herself as possibly not telling the truth, but never FULLY expressed whether she is or she isn't. Through her frenetic point of view we see the bizarre childhood and family dynamic that culminated in that night.

Overall, the book was obviously good if I managed to forget about two meals in the process if reading it. But, I will admit that, for me, a couple of the twists felt a little forced, and I wished more had been put into getting there "organically". The writing was engaging, however, and so I can totally forgive this as just being the author being too excited for her own story and rushing to the next step.

The Verdict

The Book
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The Writing
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Readability
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