I thoroughly enjoy surprising plot twists at the end of a book. It makes the read memorable, rather than having the reader start guessing the ending of the book before the plot has been unfolded. This book has a HUGEEE twist at the climax, but did I like what was laid out in my eyes? Let’s get into the review.
The story unravels in the breezy town of Westport, Connecticut where the new woman in town, Piper Reynard opens a rehab and wellness center. She meets with a handsome, successful lawyer, Leo Drakos in one of her sessions and immediately starts crushing over him, but Piper later learns that his wife Joanna has asked him to attend a rehab session, hoping that it might help Leo come out of depression about his ongoing case.
Even though Leo hates the rehab session and quits it in the middle, Piper manages to strike a conversation with him and a connection immediately develops between them. Leo returns to his charming self, paying attention again to Evie and Stelli, the children they both love beyond measure. Joanna is devastated when she finds that Leo has fallen for that hex of a woman, Piper. Leo says that she loves Piper and Joanna should not come in between their lives. Leo assures her, she can still see their children.
Joanna could not believe how fast things have changed and she is determined to find something, anything against this woman who has stolen her life and her true love. She starts to investigate Piper’s past and is shocked to find some disturbing secrets about her past life. Piper had two ex-husbands who both died in mysterious ways, one from drowning in a boat accident along with this daughter and the other falling off from a cliff during a hike. The real catch here is that on both occasions Piper was tagging along with them and she escaped harmless. This surely raises suspicion, if Piper is the reason for her ex-husbands death (At least, that is how the author wants us to think so).
When she confronts this to her therapist, Celeste, she advises Joanna to back off and concentrate on getting custody of her kids. Joanna attempts to convince Leo that Piper is a bad influence and they should get back together, but he gets irritated and asks Joanna to not even come close to the kids anymore. This makes Joanna paranoid and she starts acting crazy. On the other hand, Piper tries to win the trust over Leo’s kids and tries to replace their mother. Evie understands her father’s choice and accepts Piper, but Stelli hates her and keeps on asking for his real mother. Piper also tries to change the things around the house, so that the remains of Leo’s wife are no longer lingering around.
Till this point of the story, I breezed through the book. I was so captivated and I kept on reading to know what happens next. The story wasn’t any new, but the drama made the book a page turner. From here, the things started to slow and I lost track of what exactly the characters are doing in the book. The so-called “twist” at the end was not worth the time I put into this book.
Click for spoilers
Leaving out the boring middle portion of the book, let’s jump straight to the big climax. Every year, Leo’s family takes a trip to enjoy their vacation. Piper decides to take things into her own hands and decides to change the trip destination. In this new destination, Piper plans to go on a hike along with Leo and the kids. But, Stelli is afraid of heights and he refuses to come for the trip. Somehow Piper manages to persuade Stelli and they all get started. Meanwhile, Joanna gets to know about this new trip involving hikes and she guesses that Piper is going to kill Leo and the kids similar to one of Piper’s ex-husband. So, she decides to go there herself and keep an eye on the kids.
After reaching the trip location, Leo, Piper and kids stay in Leo’s family house while Joanna hides in the guest house watching for any suspicious activity. The next morning when everyone was getting ready for the hike, Joanna decides to go and get the kids and run away with them far away from Leo and Piper. She thought that it was the right decision for her and the kids. So, Joanna silently approaches the kids who are playing on the outside of the house. On seeing Joanna, Stelli runs over to her, but Evie hesitates and asks, “What are you doing here, Joanna?”. She calls her by her name! Joanna explains to Evie that Piper is a bad woman and she has planned to kill them and their father on the hike. Evie refuses to believe this and asks Joanna to let go of Stelli. But, Joanna denies and Evie shouts to call out Leo.
Joanna decides to run away with Stelli, but he is not happy about that. So, Joanna tightens the grip around him and he starts shouting for help. Joanna makes a run with Stelli into the woods and trips and falls down. Stelli tries to escape from her, but she uses her taser on him and makes him unconscious. Meanwhile, Leo catches up to them, he asks what she has done to his son and she explains Piper is a bad woman and explains all about her past. Leo doesn’t buy those and warns Joanna to let go of Stelli, but Joanna refuses and tases him as well. She runs off along with Stelli to the seashore where she decides to jump into the sea along with Stelli. But, Piper interrupts her jumping and asks Joanna to take her instead of Stelli. Joanna becomes psychotic and takes a gun from her back and shoots Stelli, but Piper runs across Stelli and she takes the bullet.
Police arrive and they take custody of Joanna. Piper is taken to hospital for treatment. After all these bizarre incidents, we discover that Joanna was never married to Leo. She was his business assistant and after the death of the children’s mother he let her move in to help with the children. Joanna develops love for Leo and starts thinking that she is really married to Leo and his children are her own children. When Piper came into Leo’s life, Joanna couldn’t accept it and became chaotic. Why didn’t Leo sense Joanna’s obsession earlier? Why did the children act like she was their mother through the whole book except at the end? And while Joanna might have been crazy, she also wasn’t wrong about Piper. She is a murderer. She will kill the children and her husband if they disappoint her.
Nobody’s behaviour makes any sense, given all the facts that the author tried to make us believe about each character. Why would one make us believe one thing about the story, the whole book and change it entirely at the end? What was supposed to be a mind blowing twist in the end, turned out to be an utter disaster. This whole thing reeked of mediocrity and misogyny. I was disappointed, I mean I couldn’t wait to see what happened, but there was just too much. Every cliche you could find was in this book.
So, do I recommend this book? Read the review and save your time and money. To me, the ending does not make up for the rest of the book just being OK. I also think that the ending requires a lot of suspension of belief. Like more than your typical thriller. It was a stretch. And it still left me with a ton of questions!