Esther Nesbitt is grieving the loss of her husband and two children in
a car accident. She has become a bit of
a recluse; her only friend is a young woman named Amy who lives nearby. Since she passes by Esther’s home on her way to
her job as a nurse in a local hospital, she drops by regularly to check up on
Esther. From her window, Esther watches
her new neighbour Veronica and becomes concerned when she witnesses her erratic
and abusive behaviour towards her husband and children. Feeling guilty that she could not help her
own children, Esther decides to observe Veronica and report her to the authorities
once she has sufficient evidence, but she starts to get distracted by
inexplicable events happening in her own home.
She becomes increasingly frightened and bewildered and starts to question
her grip on reality.
My major issue with the novel is its predictability. Basically the prologue gives away the plot. Then there are so many heavy-handed clues
that a reader would have to be very obtuse not to notice them. I kept reading because I thought surely the
author wouldn’t be so obvious, but the foreshadowing led exactly where I
thought it would.
To make matters worse, the book is short but still unnecessarily
long. The chapters alternate between
Esther and Veronica’s viewpoints; Esther’s chapters tend to be repetitive. The last part of the book (about 10%) could
be totally eliminated. The ending is
just added for extra zing, but it left me saying, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
What is also troubling is the misrepresentation of mental illness. The author did not do any research to ensure
her portrayal is accurate. One character
seems to have the symptoms of several mental disorders.
There is little to recommend this book.
It has no real suspense because the plot is so predictable. Its unrealistic portrayal of mental illness
is almost offensive to anyone who has experienced mental health problems.
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