Lee Hunts

I just finished reading My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. This book is about a fifteen year old girl who goes to a boarding school and is groomed into a relationship with a teacher. The story follows two timelines, one in the past, where you see her as a kid being drawn in slowly by the actions of her teacher, and then the present day, where you see her as a thirty-two year-old woman being forced to come to grips with her past. Was the relationship as she had made it out to be, or was there something else buried underneath that she needs to grapple with? This is a highly psychological novel, and it explores the mentality of victims of SA, especially ones who were groomed from a young age. I think I can provide a different perspective from some of the reviews that I have seen, because I have not read the book that this one is consistently compared to: Lolita by Vladimir Nabikov. I will eventually, after having read this, but as of writing this review, I have no knowledge of tha...

I just finished reading False Witness, by Karin Slaughter. This is a psychological thriller novel along the same vein as Gillian Flynn. It stars two female leads who are sisters with a dark shared secret between them that threatens to blow wide open after someone unexpected comes back into their lives. Like Flynn (and Jewel), this story is incredibly character driven, with much of the time spent going over the backstories of the two characters, and much of the plot centered on how the two sisters react to the provocations of the central threat. I think this story was one of the better psychological thriller novels that I have read. I especially like the focus on the characters, the woman's perspective (both the characters and the author), and the way the story progressed. And the realism that was acquired by bringing the pandemic into the story was also a nice touch. As usual for thrillers, I will only do a spoiler section, as these stories are best read going in blind. Just know t...