Book Review Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery

Disclaimer: Reading is all about exploring new worlds, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of my free-flowing thoughts about a book.

The Analysis:

So, I genuinely disliked the heroine’s character in: The Haunting of Maddy Clare. As a result, I picked this book up with an obviously crazy character and I was a little weary and standoffish. But there was no need, crazy can be very intriguing. And the reader is immersed in the mystery right away with too many questions and not enough answers. It’s a page-turner from the start. This Sri Lankan heroine also gives the reader a peek into their culture. But, let’s book review it. First, follow me on Goodreads.

Here’s The Blurb:

When Amaya is invited to Kaavi’s over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised and a little hurt to hear from her former best friend after so many years of radio silence. But when Amaya learns that the groom is her very own ex-boyfriend, she is consumed by a single thought: She must stop the wedding from happening, no matter the cost. But as the week of wedding celebrations begin and rumors about Amaya’s past begin to swirl, she can’t help but feel like she also has a target on her back. When Kaavi goes missing and is presumed dead, all evidence points to Amaya. However, nothing is as it seems as Jayatissa expertly unravels that each wedding guest has their own dark secret and agenda, and Amaya may not be the only one with a plan to keep the bride from getting her happily ever after…

Cover Critique:

This cover is quite creative. It’s clearly meant to be a wedding invitation and in the middle is a card of the location. However, it’s looking less like paradise and more gloomy. I’m ambivalent about it. Only because I wish there was more ambiance, but this cover is quite good.

Now The Story:

Book Info:
Pages: 384
Author: Amanda Jayatissa
Available: Amazon

Half of the book is told through our heroine’s eyes. A woman with a restraining order against her, who wants to go to her former friend’s wedding to stop it because she’s getting married to her ex. All the while, she seems increasingly unhinged, but did she kill the bride? This story is also interspersed with interviews from a security firm of the guests and family members as they try to answer this very question.

To this end, this book certainly challenged my bias. The heroine in this book turns to self-harm as a coping mechanism. Any POC can develop depression, anxiety, and more to deal with the challenges of life because we’re all human. However, cutting and self-harm (specifically) for me seemed to be something white women did and POC coped in other ways like promiscuity, drugs and alcohol, anger issues and/or withdrawal, etc. So, to see this was a bit of an awakening. However, those are her personal issues.

Her publicized actions would have you think that the heroine crashed the wedding, but no she was invited. And despite her questionable motives, she just wanted to talk. I expected a coming together that was great but perhaps tragic because it makes things worse between our pair unintentionally. What I got was avoidance from the bride. Like, sis, why did you invite her? It was at this moment that I realized we wouldn’t be rooting for this character not to die. Obsessed with social media with a fake personality that is abrasive in real life. I just nodded at this one.

Likewise, her meeting with the groom was just as disappointing. She is an introvert that suffers from social anxiety. Yet, and still, I want more from this basket case. A moment comes for them to talk things out and they might as well be talking about the weather. While, I don’t expect a knockdown, drag-out fight, what did happen left me scratching my head. Are you really entitled to your feelings when you can’t do the bare minimum to express them? Sure you cant say: Our break up broke me and I’m still holding a small torch for you and I might secretly hate and love you at the same time. It’s so confusing it makes me sick. But why can’t you do the minimum: I don’t like the way we broke up either. Will come back to this later on in the review.

Mrs. Fonseka (the victim’s mother) is a jerk. That’s pretty evident. However, her treatment of our heroine is completely justified. It’s clear the heroine has a negative past with her daughter and an uncertain future. I think the boundaries she was setting were justified considering the heroine’s penchant for pushing boundaries beyond the uncomfortable.

The heroine just feels everything so deeply. She’s always so hurt and damaged by a negative word said against her that it leans the reader towards being sympathetic to her cause. Until, and if, you step back and get a 360 view of the entire issue. One might never question that her treatment is rude but justified. Now, as the book went along I did not keep this opinion about the mother once her motives were revealed. Will come back to this later on in the book review too.

The Potential Suspects: There were a lot of them, but none of substance. I don’t really know what to think. I feel like every possible suspect had the barest of motives. It was not enough there (evidence-wise) to push the reader to a second or third option. The list of suspects doesn’t make total sense until the last half of the book. But there is so much going on you can kinda let it slide. For instance, our heroine kept wishing everybody dead, who breathed on her wrong. Like, give me a break, sis. How can u really wish this many people dead?

The twist is surprising, to say the least. Our heroine was pregnant. It does very little to point to the heroine’s innocence. It also does very little to explain her obsession with the victim. Having a possible kid would justify her anger towards the victim’s parents and not their kid, her bestie. Especially, when this isn’t about revenge for the kid. She’s just obsessed with some guy. It was eye-roll-inducing to think about.

During the second half of the book: the interviews were over and we had a second pov. The victim. This change just reminded me of how unnecessarily long these books can be. Especially when time goes back, again, to three months before the wedding. I inwardly groaned because I just wanted to know how she died. Nevertheless, it was interesting to know what she didn’t know about our heroine’s secrets.

There’s also a second surprise twist. The groom is broke and only wants the bride for her money. It should point to a stronger motive for our secondary character. But I’m not sure it did as there was enough there for me to think the bride was more valuable to him alive.

Fast-forward some more, a true motive is revealed and the groom has a history of abuse. Now, this comes out of left field. Frankly, the heroine’s actions pointed to nothing more than pure devotion to the man. It wasn’t just an attempt to keep the bride safe or away. We hear thoughts where she is praising the man, calling him attractive, etc. Now, some readers like a hint. There’s not one here and I can’t say if that’s good or bad. I will say that if this were a movie, I’d probably enjoy this twist-on-a-twist thing.

However, I don’t know when abuse stopped being enough, but turning that man into a pedophile too was far-fetched. The only thing I felt was true during this brief exchange was her admission that she didn’t feel like a nurturing mother. And only because I felt like that was effectively communicated throughout the story.

The ending wasn’t obvious at all. But not in an author hid something from the reader kind of way. No, there were enough signs in play, but I still couldn’t put them together to guess how this would end. There was a disgruntled employee with a dead wife that played a major role in the ending that appeared throughout the story. The author tied up the loose ends, perfectly. It was pretty cool. I walked away feeling like I understood everything that had transpired and I enjoyed the wrap-up.

But then the ending kept going. The bad guys won. Except, we didn’t really know they were the bad guys until they sat down for drinks. I would have preferred the ending to stop at the altercation in the changing rooms. Some random housewife of a man that sells jewelry being this much of a criminal mastermind is drawing some ire. I can’t say it’s unbelievable, but it is unwanted. By the sheer will of having important connections, does someone automatically know how to get away with atrocities? And does being a selfish Instagrammer automatically mean you’re capable of murder to maintain your position? Many social media stars fall by the wayside every day, rich and poor alike. Since, one can’t say yes with any authority to either of these questions. The ending doesn’t sit well. One point off.

We love our country for the sum of its parts, just not the individual components that make up its whole.

Best quote: It appeared early in the story and I’d bet top dollar that most citizens feel this way about their country unless they live in Sweden or Norway.

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Book Review At A Glance:

Recommendation:  4 out of 5

Book Cover Appeal:

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Story & Narration:

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Romance:

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Character/(s) Personality:

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