With Malice

De: Eileen Cook

Narrado por: Whitney Dykhouse

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last 6 weeks should be. She comes to discover she was involved in a fatal accident while on a school trip in Italy three days previous but was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident...wasn't an accident. Wondering not just what happened but what she did, Jill tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

©2016 Eileen Cook (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Didn't live up to the hype

This book was listed as a mystery thriller and yeah it was a mystery but not so much a thriller. It's about two besties who get in a car accident abroad and one ends up dead. The other is suspected of murder but has no memory of the events leading up to or right after the accident. The story itself was pretty good and moved along at a steady pace. By the middle I had a good idea of the girls friendship dynamic and had basically figured out the gist of what had happened. I'm a fan of books that involve memory loss and piecing the past together but the overall plot in this wasn't as exciting as I had expected. Maybe it's because the book was pretty hyped up before I read it. Oh well. The main character Jill was kind of bland. I didn't connect with her. I found myself more just wanting to find out what happened than actually caring about the outcome for her. At least it was a quick listen.

My opinion...

Story was good, but not great, I love mysteries& even ya mysteries, but when this ended...I was like what?! I even double checked my chapter list to make sure. It was getting really good, I was very into to it & then poof! It was over. I'm not sure I even know what really happened. It's not a bad story at all, just wish it hadn't ended so quickly, I feel like there was more to tell. The performance was great, lots of characters & believable accents, just feel a little cheated at the end.

Engaging

I liked the pace and the ending! The voice actor’s choice to try to do an Italian accent was embarrassing 😬

Great

First half of the book was good, but I dont like the ending. Still a great book

Reality vs Fiction

4.5 stars for "With Malice"

I really enjoyed this book, it had me guessing and trying to figure out what really happened the entire time. The reason for the 1/2 star is for a reason I won't share since it contains spoilers.

I had a few favorite parts from this book.

1. Toxic friendships. People grow apart when their lives go different directions and friendships in high school are interesting. When you are there you think how can you ever live life without the friends you have in that moment?

2. Jill's character. It was interesting to see her struggle with what was reality vs images she made up based on information she had heard. The brain is a complex thing and Cook does a phenomenal job of showing how it works.

3. The ending. The last quote was icing on the cake!

Really good fast read!