Book Review – Unhinge by Calia Read

Unhinge: A Novel
*NOTICE!!! Skip this review if you want to read this story “blind”. My review is pure reaction, right to the very end, and while I don’t spoil anything per se, my reactions might give you a preconceived notion that you might not want to have going in…*
Okay… now the review.
Gosh darn it. I’m annoyed. Seriously.

Maryse: Okay so I’m just finishing a book and I have nooooo clue what is happening. I THINK I know… but OMG I have no clue, because right now? It’s just so crazy I can’t imagine I’m right??!!! I hope there’s a wiki that will tell me. Confirm it… oh my. OMG… am I reading this right???????
Maryse: Wait. Waaaaaaiiiiiiit. Wait. I don’t understand what I’m reading. Amy. AMY!!!! Anyone that has read Unhinged… please. I’m at the end. I don’t understand. *still reading and in sorta shock but not enough shock for all I expected*
Maryse: *hrmph* Yeah, no. I don’t get it. I’ll have to backtrack and do a search for a few names to find out how they factor into this story, so importantly in the end, ’cause I have no clue who they are and why they matter. And I pretty much read this one non-stop.
Gosh darn it! 
bev: It’s an Amy book?
Maryse: It’s an Amy book.  But her and I usually see eye-to-eye. Either she or I drank to many martinis with this one. LOL!!!!!!

So there you have it. My straight-forward, real-time reaction of this book. Right to the very end.
I read this one with gusto, devouring every single word, KNOWING that no matter “what” I thought was happening, that I would be shocked and appalled and stricken with OMGness in the end. And yeah… we were almost there. The whole thing was addicting. I was hooked until 90%. And then I was even MORE hooked ’cause I knew NOW was the BIG SHOCKER.
But nope. Yes. There was a “shocker”. One we didn’t see coming. But I wasn’t shocked ’cause there was NO way I could have seen it coming. None at all. So I’m bummed, instead.
Okay so yeah, That happened… sorta. But grrrrrrr!!!! How and “who” it happened with had no meaning to me. GOSH. DARN. IT!!!!!!!
This could have been so good. It kind of was. It was intense, and scary, and ANYTHING could have been the answer, but the answer revealed… did NOTHING for me. I even did a search in the Kindle book, after I was done, just to see if I missed some crazy clue or obvious (but not obvious) foreshadowing earlier on. I did not. From what I can understand (unless I missed something critical) the end was a brand new part of the story and didn’t have much to do with everything I had just read, other than… SURPRISE!! BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING!!!! GOTCHA!

But yeah… I didn’t see this coming ’cause it had NO place at all ANYWHERE in the story before the reveal. So… I dunno. No cleverness in that, I guess. *sigh*
I’m annoyed. I already said that, haven’t I?
So what’s it about?
I dunno. I mean I do. For the majority of the book, the heroine is in a mental hospital trying to figure out exactly WHY she’s there. She’s visited by her husband whom she loves more than anything. And other visitors that show up, that she doesn’t remember at all. This whole book is a look-back into her story… her falling in love and marrying the love of her life… and how she ended up in this hospital with no memories at all.
That’s all I’m gonna say.
There’re so many obvious moments, typical (and yet thrilling) of this kind of psych thriller, and yet… with all of its potential, it’s a cheap thrill overall ’cause the author solves the problem (or the psych-thrill) in a completely remote way.
My reaction? —> Wait. Whaaaaat? *backtracks* *finds nothing* Oh. Well. Okay then.
Anyway. I’m annoyed.
3.5 stars.
Almost 5 stars for the whole amazing story, psychological aspect and great writing. Excellent. But the ending? Nope. So there you go. *hrmph*
Maybe I just didn’t get it? Did I miss something? I did a backtrack and a search. From what I gather I missed nothing. The end was introduced just to solve the.. “issue”. But… wait. The whole ending/reveal was so out of left field that it evades me.
Annoyed.