The Friend - Teresa Driscoll - ★★

-
AUTHOR: Teresa Driscoll
GENRE: Psychological Thriller.
PUBLICATION DATE: March 22, 2018.
RATING: 2 stars.

Sophie thought she could trust her new friend, Emma. Both bond over common interests plus they have sons of the same age. However, with time, some cracks appear in Emma's carefully constructed image.

The story is narrated in parallel from two timelines. That is the only plus point of the book. The story just drags, and plot twists can be seen a mile before they occur. You soon begin to see what takes Sophie a whole book to discover. 

In short, it's not a psychological thriller, just a psychological torture.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

Disney Manga: Tangled - Shiori Kanaki - ★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Shiori Kanaki GENRE: Graphic Novel, Fairy Tale Retelling, Manga PUBLICATION DATE: September 12, 2017 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A manga version of ‘Tangled’, Disney’s take on Rapunzel. Stick to the movie. I am not a manga fan, but I am a ‘Tangled’ super-fan. It is one of my favourite animated movies, and I have watched it umpteen times with my kids. Though not that faithful to the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, this original retelling enhances the best of the tale and expands the universe to a wider and funnier level. It helps that Flynn Rider is the best MMC in the entire animated fairytales universe. 🥰 Given the above, it would anyway be challenging for this manga adaptation to match up to the movie. There’s no way a B&W comic adaptation can do justice to an animated movie that was six years in the making and involved the creation of a special animation program to simulate the movement of 70 feet of hair. So I didn’t go in expecting a similar experience. ...
Read More»

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline - ★★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR: Ernest Cline SERIES: Ready Player One #1 GENRE: Science Fiction, LitRPG PUBLICATION DATE: August 16, 2011. RATING: 4.5 stars. It's a rare occurrence in my life when I end up watching the movie without realising that it is a book adaptation. Now that I've read 'Ready Player One', I sure am glad that I watched the movie first! ( Be forewarned; the movie story is very different from that of the book. ) Imagine reading a book on baseball and you happen to be interested in sports but aren't an expert in baseball. You'll enjoy the book, no doubt. But there will be many terms that you can't understand and at the end, there will be a slight regret in your heart. You will start pondering, "if only I had some interest in baseball, I'd have enjoyed this book even more." That's me with 'Ready Player One'. 'Ready Player One' is a full paisa-vasool entertainer. The story is set in a dystopian 2045, where the world is in tumult aft...
Read More»

Separation of Church and Hate - John Fugelsang - ★★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR & NARRATOR: John Fugelsang GENRE: Religious Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: Jun 04 2026 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A nonfiction that does exactly what the title declares: separates the church from the despicable version sold to us by fascists and fundamentalists. Insightful, incisive, accurate, brilliant. Hard truths delivered with a good dash of humour. The book (as well as this review) might create allergic reactions in certain *Christians*, but to the fellow sane believers out there, this is a must-read. Much recommended! When I see religion-based nonfiction books ( any religion, not just Christian ones ) with titles that call out strongly to me, the first thing I do is check the credentials of the author. Any person who behaves like an extremist on their social media ( most conservative evangelicals in case of Christianity ), who spreads hate against other religions or minorities, who uses demeaning words to refer to people of other faiths, and who misinterprets scri...
Read More»

I Need a New Butt! - Dawn McMillan - ★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Dawn McMillan ILLUSTRATOR: Ross Kinnaird GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 1, 2012 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A children’s picture book with some questionable inclusions. My low rating isn't because this talks about butts, but because I found it poorly written. Plot Preview: Written in first person, the young narrator is sad at having discovered a crack in his butt. He wonders where and when he might have broken it. (He’s fairly certain a fart caused it to split.) He then mulls over various butt options he could try as a replacement, going from the arty to the outrageous. But will these options work on a broken bottom? It is a truth universally acknowledged that kids like good butt stories. And this one seemed to have the makings of one. But I don’t get its appeal. Honestly, the title got me cracking up. I was hoping for a cheeky story about how the boy discovers that all butts are cracked. However, while the story started off excellently, ...
Read More»

Seasons of Splendour: Tales, Myths and Legends of India - Madhur Jaffrey

-
Image
Author: Madhur Jaffrey Illustrator: Michael Foreman Genre: Children's Fiction, Indian Culture, Mythology Rating: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A beautiful storybook that took me down memory lane. This is for those interested in genuine Indian folklore, mythological as well as cultural. Madhur Jaffrey is known in India mainly for being a cookbook writer so this collection came as a wonderful surprise to me. I devoured every story with glee. The collection begins with a wonderful author’s note that details her childhood and how storytelling played a part in it. I relished it because it made me all nostalgic about my childhood years, though I didn’t grow up with a huge extended family, unlike the author. The tales are arranged in the order of the lunar calendar, which generally begins around April. This is significant as Hindu festivals are celebrated as per the lunar cycle. The structure of the book is thus simple. The author gives a brief intro of the upcoming segment, mostly through a...
Read More»