August 31, 2015.
Two Stars
So many of the elements of this book had great potential, but it just didn’t come together for me. Amnesia, a marriage on the rocks, the mysterious girl in the cellar – it seemed like all the right ingredients for a great psychological thriller, but there was a lack of depth to the storytelling that left me wanting more. I feel like with a lot of editing, I could really enjoy this story, but as it was, I barely made it through to the end, and I regretted the author’s missed opportunities to add excitement to the lives of her characters. They are in a life-changing situation, yet there is little emotional response, and their conversations (both out loud and inside Elisabet’s head) are stilted and awkward.
The lack of feeling on behalf of the narrator could be part of her sociopathic personality, but what is the excuse of Lillian, the girl tied up in the cellar? She had almost no reaction to being set free, not to mention the events she went through after her release. The characters just seemed very flat and unresponsive. I couldn’t understand the motivation of any of the characters, least of all the narrator, Elisabet. Upon awakening in a hospital bed with amnesia, she has no problem being released to her ex-husband, although presumably there was a reason for their separation. Elisabet soon finds out that the reason was physical abuse, yet she reacts with no shock and little concern for her own well-being as he repeatedly attacks her. The surly teen step-daughter was also an unnecessary side plot, as she added no dimension to Elisabet’s character.
I actually liked the concept of this novel, I just didn’t like the way it was handled. I think I may have been expecting too much, hoping for the execution of the plot to be a bit more literary. Breathe and Release definitely jumps on the bandwagon of surface-level, female-driven psychological thrillers, so if that’s your thing, you may enjoy this one.
I received this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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