When a book begins by introducing a protagonist who can’t even remember their own name, it’s a pretty safe bet there’s going to be some unreliable narration going on. I was definitely correct when I made that prediction about two pages in; there are at least two unreliable narrators in this story, out of the several the book hops to. Although the mystery of who the woman with no memory might be is intriguing, the main plot and suspense of the story was too slow to get going; we really only understood what was going on in about the last 10% of the book.
With the stakes finally raised, it stumbled to a climax which wasn’t quite horrifying enough given the lead-up; with what had been explained to us about the main villain’s wants, I expected there to be rather more of a ‘big reveal’ about his past activities and why he’d chosen his particular victims.
As a psychological thriller, I wasn’t really all that thrilled. Though I learned some interesting things about the biochemistry of the brain and about seahorses, the stakes didn’t get high enough, nor was the protagonist really sympathetic enough, for me to get really invested in the book. It was just ‘ok’ and therefore I’m giving it three stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.