This story is about a young British woman who rents a new futuristic home with crazy stipulations and surprise! is monitored throughout her entire time living there, as well as gets romantically involved with a man closely related to the architect of the home.

This was one of my least favorite reads from the modern thriller with strong female lead genre. I am intrigued by up and coming murder writers from the UK. I had explored Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train, Into the Water) and Ruth Ware (In a Dark, Dark Wood) with mixed reviews. I was eager to read The Girl Before by yet another British author.

A twist in this is that JP Delaney is a male writer. It explained much of the novel. The two main characters, which take turns narrating, continue to get themselves in the most unrealistic, unrelatable situations that eventually leads to the death of one of them. So, a novel written by a guy who doesn’t think females are smart. Got it.

Spoiler: For example, the nook in the house? The secret rape? The dating of the architect?????!

Sometimes the fun in reading about unrelatable situations is that you can just sit back and let the story take you wherever. I didn’t guess the killer until the last page. I am one of those suckers who really think it’s the one “bad guy” the author wants you to believe up until the last page.

Written by Katie

Posted July 21, 2018