3 stars

I received an uncorrected proof of this book through Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.

This book is good, not great; interesting, not thrilling. An easy read that is intriguing, but not necessarily page-turning. It was a good story, but definitely not what I expected from “the Dutch answer to Gillian Flynn.” Those are big shoes to fill and I think Herman Koch did Pauw an injustice in describing her in such a way, because it leaves the reader with big expectation that are not fulfilled. The book is in no way bad, but when described in such exaggerated terms, the reader can’t help but be disappointed.

The story itself was decent, but two of the major plot points were pretty obvious from the beginning. It takes the characters a while to figure them out though, making the story a little dull at times. The plot was not entirely original and it was pretty simple with a few unique detail thrown in.

I have an uncorrected proof so I can’t speak for the finished writing, but what I read was very simple on the part of Iris and a little too flowery to be believable on the part of Ray. He used too much imagery in my opinion that didn’t seem true to the character.

Overall, a good, simple story that I enjoyed reading, but it wasn’t groundbreaking or mind-blowing.