Thriller

While Konen's writing is structurally sound and propels the reader on well enough, her plotting is somewhat woeful. 90% of the mystery was discernable after about 30-40 pages. The resolution was incredibly low stakes and unsatisfying. ( )

The Perfect Escape had a fairly interesting premise, started off fairly strong, but I thought it went downhill from the middle of the book; I did enjoy the situation in which the girls found themselves, but I struggled with the writing as it seemed to be more in the nature of telling you what was happening rather than letting you figure it out on its own.

Sam, Margaret, and Diana are newish friends who bond over their difficulties with their respective spouses and decide to have a girls' weekend. Unfortunately, something goes wrong right from the beginning and they are stranded overnight in a town that is of interest to one of the other girls. Personally, I hate coincidences like these and thought this was one of the weakest parts of the book. For me, it affected the level of suspense and made it way too predictable.

This was a fast-paced read, although it did slow down considerably in the middle. Unfortunately, told through the perspectives of only Sam and Margaret took away from the overall suspense as it made Diana look quite suspicious. Personally, I think having Diana's perspective would have strengthened the overall story. I wasn't a huge fan of these women as their communication was terrible and they certainly didn't make mature choices. Maybe they are all passive in nature, but I know I would not have let things go the way they did and I would have asked a lot more questions.

Verdict
The Perfect Escape was an easy fast-paced read, but it did have some issues with pacing and I thought keeping it to the two perspectives lost some of the overall suspense. The story didn't feel quite like a thriller, but more of a domestic fiction with all of the trials and tribulations of marriage, infidelity, miscarriage, and so on. There was a nice little twist at the end over which I spent some time reflecting, but it wasn't enough to boost this book. Although this one was a miss for me, if you are looking for an easy beach read, this might be for you. ( )

A psychological thriller that unspools during a girls' getaway? Yes, please! This one was good, but could have been great. Shifting point of view helped understand the decisions and desires of multliple characters, but may have taken some power away from the twist/reveal. In the end, I really liked one of the main characters, found one fairly annoying/didn't care, and didn't quite buy into the motivations of the third. This was also a book that didn't deliver on what I thought I was reading. Great cover though and the audio production was good.