"Hang in there!"
Dark and twisted psychological thriller! You have to tough it out the first couple of chapters, and then the sublime madness begins! My favorite listen so far this year!!!
"Overall pretty good"
Had moments when it DRAGGED, especially all the flashbacks, but when you finally understood what happened, it was pretty good. All in all I enjoyed it.
"What a ridiculous waste of time"
Please read headline. There is nothing more i can add than that. I wish i could have my 15 hours back.
"If you enjoyed Gone Girl......."
Got this book based on a review from another Audible member.
It got me through an entire day of painting, enjoyably!
Well worth the listen.
Yes
Read this book!
"Sociopaths, etc"
I love a good sociopath. You will too if you listen to this one. It's not the best relationship-gone-wrong story– it's a bit heavy handed at times and unfolds like a Lifetime movie toward the end, but I enjoyed the ride.
"Every Teenage Girl Needs to Read"
It's a painful story set in England with a wonderful reader who does English accents well. I rate it only a 3 because the beginning is a bit confused and slow and because the story that unfolds is so painful to us observers. We are yelling at Catherine to run, but she doesn't. Catherine has a boyfriend that all her friends think walks on water and therefore refuse to hear the little Catherine tells them about what goes on behind close doors. We also meet Catherine 4 years later and how she has been affected by previous events.
Every teenage girl needs to read this so that she begins to understand the warning signs even when everything appears perfect on the outside. The wrong kind of love can hurt and young women need to grow enough confidence that they react to their inner voices instead of the opinions of others.
"A compelling case for OCD--Compelling listen!"
I didn't expect to like this book at all, and would not have gotten it if it weren't on sale. For one thing, the subject matter of an abused OCD whom no one believes is unpleasant if not haunting. Then, when I started listening, I was sure I didn't like the female narrator, Karen Cass, who sounded like a brainless wonder with a British accent.
In fact, I was haunted, until I finished it. It was an incredible story, perfectly narrated by Cass, who managed to show innocence, vulnerability, reason and strength somehow all the time. In spite of it being the most frightening thriller I had read in a long time, I could not stop listening. Cass's "dumb blond" voice didn't annoy; rather it became the only voice of reason in the story. And, she was stronger than I would have thought possible--stronger than I would have been under her circumstances.
But the real heroine was the author, Elizabeth Haynes, of whom I have never heard, but will certainly look into. She didn't "tell" the story, she literally placed the reader or listener in the situation. I found myself holding my breath when Cathy did, and felt myself wanting by comparison. It truly was haunting--I have had nightmares ever since starting it--but wouldn't have stopped listening for the world. There were no unnecessarily gruesome descriptions of anything, they just happened. I have read and listened to way too many novels that depended on the drawn-out gratuitious violence in horrific and continuous detail. This was more compelling because you felt it all.
It really makes a case for not dismissing the fears of people who seem to fear all the time. The fact that they display OCD symptoms does not make the performance of the checking and double-checking wrong or misguided. It may be that they have a reason to be fearful and simply can't depend on someone else to protect them--or believe them. The quirk has a root, and the root may have merit.
The story's switching from the dark past (2004) to the "present" (2008) was a bit confusing and even annoying at first. But the parallels soon became evident, as did the necessity of this type of very effective presentation.
A truly must-read, even for the feint at heart. It is a magnificent story of the triumph of the human spirit and one's ability to dispel "ghosts" literally without any help or support other than her own sense of reason and conviction.
"OMG! What a nail biting thriller this one is"
I started out with listening to this, and after a while I switched to my Kindle to read it.
The beginning is a bit confusing, because it starts out in 2005, skips back to events of 2003, then a short bit in 2001, then we skip forward to 2007. The whole book is like that. If you want a clear picture. write the starting dates down, then refer to them. Reading it was just easier for me, to see the dates in print.
At first, I thought I wasn't going to like this book, as it started going into the daily life habits of an OCD sufferer. But, the blow by blow of locking doors, and checking latches, didn't last too long, then the novel took off running. It quickly became one of those novels that you have to finish in one reading, which I did (couldn't get away from it).
Cathy falls in love with the wrong guy, and boy does her life completely change. What starts out as bliss, soon turns into a nightmare that haunts her for her lifetime. You find yourself in her shoes, as everything turns hopeless, and is done in a very believable way.
She can trust no one, as the book goes back and forth between past and present, you (the reader) don't know who she can trust either, if anybody. She struggles to get her life together, but you find yourself wondering if it will happen, and with this type of book, anything can take place, right up til the end.
"An eye opener"
Real, believable and gripping
Catherine, I really took to her, her life was so real and believable. Her way of thinking can be related to. She was just a normal girl turned into a quiet almost reclusive OCD freak . But once you find out what happened to her, its amazing that she even got to this point.
There were some really unexpected funny parts, mainly from Catherine.
"Missing thrills and chills"
This book kept my interest because I believed I was listening to a well-crafted psychological thriller. The problem: it was all setup and no payoff. It needed clever twists, feints to keep you off-balance. Maybe that maturity will come to this author with time. The plot premise had good potential, but it didn't deliver in the end.