Between the Pages

Carys, Andrea and Zoe are invited by their friend Joanne to spend her 40th birthday with her in a remote and – to the other three – unknown location. As soon as they start out on the journey there, it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems. There have been tensions between Joanne and the others for some time and it seems that this is the weekend she wants to have it out with them. Nevertheless the group try to make the most of things until things take a shocking turn and it seems that there is danger lurking, and friendship turns to suspicion as everyone starts to suspect each other. From there, things only get worse and the story builds to a shocking climax.

I listened to this as an audiobook, which are my preferred method of keeping me distracted during long runs. Inasfar as this goes, this book did keep me occupied but overall I cannot say I was terrifically impressed. The narration was fine, although I always feel sorry for narrators who have loads of characters’ voices to deal with, and some of these were a tad annoying. Overall though, I have no issues with the narration, but the storyline itself dragged on and as it became more and more implausible I grew irritated with it. It’s fiction and of course you expect some dramatic licence, but some of the characters behaved so oddly for supposedly intelligent women, and many of the events were so crazy that it lost all sense of possibility for me. Also, I guessed the ending pretty early on.

So generally I would say…not terrible, but not particularly mind blowing either. If you’re looking for something just to pass time, you could do worse, but if you’re looking for a genuinely thrilling read, I cannot recommend this one.