10% Providence, 20% Mystery, 70% Fluff

A boy wakes up, having lost a couple of years, in a grown-up athletic version of his body. He finds himself in an unlocked basement with nothing but a book by H. P. Lovecraft and a rather cryptic note from his kidnapper. His best friend, well, she had given up hoping for his return, and fell in love with the bully who always picked on the boy. Then, there is also a series of mysterious deaths, and a detective who tries to put the pieces to the puzzle together. (All in all, I found him the most believable and interesting character by far.) A large part of the story takes place in Providence, the capital of the US state Rhode Island. Caroline Kepnes captured the atmosphere and many details of the city very vividly, including the Rhode Island School of Design scene (America's greatest art school) and the H. P. Lovecraft fan scene. Well - and there is fluff. Lots of. The girl has to decide between her abducted friend who behaves in mysterious ways and his former bully, who grew up into an overall jerk. She also became a painter. We hear a lot about her inner turmoil. Also, the turmoil of her formerly abducted friend. A third or a quarter of that would have sufficed to me, after a while it just got tedious. There is a solution to the mystery of the abduction, in the end, but I found it not very convincing. The same goes for the "solution" of the story. If the main characters had been a wee bit smarter, not so busy sorting out their "feelings" and making things unnecessarily complicated - well, the whole story would have been shorter by two thirds and much more interesting. There might even had been a more convincing end. The speakers are highly professional and a joy to listen to.

Sie haben diese Rezension bewertet.

Wir haben Ihre Meldung erhalten und werden die Rezension prüfen.