Surviving Her - Jo Johnson - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Jo Johnson

GENRE: Domestic Suspense.

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: I am stunned at this indie work in so many ways! It has its flaws, and yet it had me hooked. I am going to be pondering over the characters for a long time.

Story Synopsis:

Nine-year-old Nicky loves his mom and dad, and wants them to be together. But when his dad walks out because of his mom’s alcoholism, Nicky feels responsible. He tries his best to put things right as the ‘man of the house’, but when he can’t, he struggles with his emotions.

Almost-thirty-year-old Keziah believes that she has found a gem of a man in Claus, a child psychologist. In a bid to provide some happiness to her parents who are still broken over her elder sister’s death a few years ago, she accepts Claus’s proposal. However, it soon becomes clear to her that Claus has two faces. And she isn’t sure which one belongs to the real Claus.

The story comes to us mostly in the third person perspective of Nick and the first person perspective of Keziah.

There are many reasons for which I should have disliked this book. And yet… I couldn’t keep the book aside!

The two character perspectives were wonderfully written. I didn’t foresee how the two stories were interrelated. I had my guesses, of course, but boy, was I wrong and how! Not a single guess of mine about the connection and the climax was correct; whoops!

Keziah and Nicky have some similar points in their stories. Both are dealing with tragedies in their families. Both want a happy and united future. Both give generous second chances to the people they love. But both forget that a ‘second’ chance can be given only once. A chance given over and over again isn’t a ‘second’ chance anymore. And this is where my feelings for them took different paths. Nicky was just a vulnerable boy. So I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, and wished that he had had at least one sensible and responsible adult in his close family. (Nancy and Mr. P could do only SO much!) However, Keziah was an independent adult, and her decision to stick with Claus tested my patience.

Claus seemed like a typical ‘gaslighting husband and jerk’ character, the kind omnipresent in almost every contemporary domestic thriller, except that this isn’t a domestic thriller. But by the time the story came to an end, I was thoroughly confused about my opinion of Claus. His character arc offers a lot to ponder over.

There are some memorable secondary characters as well, quite a few of whom stand out in the way they affect the plot for better or for worse. I wish some of them had been given a larger role to play in the proceedings. That said, some decisions made by the characters—main and secondary—left me infuriated, so it was very tough to stay calm while reading this work.

Author Jo Johnson has been a practising clinical psychologist with the NHS for more than a decade, and her experience and her expertise are clearly visible in her portrayal of the characters’ behaviour and reactions. I appreciate how she didn’t make the mental health issues just a quirk but rather, a solid part of the character’s personality. Nicky’s OCD is especially well-integrated into the storyline.

As I mentioned above, the book isn’t without flaws. There were a couple of minor plot-holes and some inconsistencies in character development, especially in Nicky’s feelings for odd numbers. There are random time jumps and scene jumps. The writing becomes sometimes a bit confusing, especially when it tries to foreshadow. There are minor typos here and there, but for a change, I was happy to ignore the grammatical & writing integrity, and focus only on the plot and the characters.

I still don’t know how I feel about the ending – it certainly took me by surprise, and not necessarily in a bad way.

Overall, this book offered me a reading experience that went far beyond the printed words. While not a character-oriented story, it still made me wonder what I would have done had I been in that character’s place. Some of my actions would have matched theirs; some, absolutely not.

If you are looking for a thought-provoking domestic suspense story, I definitely recommend this indie gem. The writing might need some fine-tuning, but the story and the characters make it worth the time.

My thanks to author Jo Johnson for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Surviving Her”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The book is available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers in India.