Her

I'm not generally into psychological thrillers but this book was all over everyone's reading lists, and was compared to Gone Girl, so I had to read it. I didn't love it.

It's the story of Nina and Emma, two very different women who meet "by chance" and develop a friendship. They're very different - Nina is a successful artist on her second husband, and with a teen-aged daughter; Emma has a toddler and is about to give birth to her second child. Although of a similar age they are at very different points in life, and Emma sees Nina as someone to admire and confide in - but she's not sure what Nina sees in her.

It turns out that Nina and Emma knew each other briefly one summer long ago, but Emma seems to have no recollection of Nina, while Nina remembers Emma only too well - and is still upset by something that happened that long-ago summer. So, what Emma thinks are coincidences and mix-ups are actually Nina's carefully engineered plots. The reader learns this early on, because the story is told in alternating chapters from each woman's perspective. I don't think this device worked very well, because it gave me too much information too soon. I think if I had heard all of Emma's side first, then heard all of Nina's side, I would have been more shocked - and, consequentially, more entertained.

I didn't love the book, but I kept reading it waiting to see how it ended. But then I was disappointed with the ending. So, there's my tepid non-recommendation.

Her