Review of THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND by Karen Hamilton (New Release)

2 Stars

Elizabeth aka Lily aka Juliette is obsessed with Nate Goldsmith.  They were in a relationship but he was not ready for the type of commitment she wanted.  Determined to convince him that they are destined to be together, she makes a plan of action.  One step is to become a flight attendant for the same airline for which Nate is a pilot.  It soon becomes clear that she will go to extremes to reunite with him.

I found the book very derivative.  How many books have been written recently about a jilted girlfriend who becomes an obsessive stalker?  There are some twists to Juliette’s stalking but on the whole the book is not especially original or clever.  Juliette’s plotting just becomes tedious.  I kept reading not because the book was suspenseful and interesting but because I just wanted to finish it.  I probably would have stopped reading had I not felt obligated to finish it since I received a galley from the publisher.

The book requires too much suspension of disbelief.  Juliette has access to everyone’s work schedule at the airline?  She is allowed to fly international flights immediately after training and gets a promotion on the basis of one incident where she performs well?   She makes copies of everyone’s keys?  No one has security on their social media accounts?  Nate knows his ex-girlfriend so little that he is constantly being duped by her?  Considering their history and how Nate treated her, why would Juliette want to have anything to do with him?

Juliette is not a likeable character.  It is difficult to relate to her because she is so disconnected from reality.  It seems that the reader is supposed to have some sympathy for her because of a traumatic event when she was ten years old and her social difficulties as a teenager, but her extreme behaviour negates that sympathy.  The message of the novel seems to be that “without love and acceptance, all that’s left is something dark and hateful.”  Unfortunately, she becomes totally dark and hateful.  Again, how often do we have to read about a schoolgirl not being accepted by a snobbish clique?  What’s with her pre-occupation with secretly staying in people’s apartments when they are away?  In addition, as time passed and Juliette continued her machinations, I found her less and less threatening and more and more annoying. 

An unlikeable protagonist is not necessarily an issue; the problem is that there are no characters that are worth an emotional investment.  They are all so flawed and unsympathetic that I didn’t care what happened to them so there was little suspense.  

This book was just not for me.  It relies on the overused crazy stalker protagonist and adds nothing original.  The events become more and more implausible, veering into the ridiculous.  Then, after being offered nothing but a formulaic plot, the reader is subjected to an ending that can only be considered a cop-out.

Note:  I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.