The world Mandanna has created is exceedingly cozy and heartfelt, full of people bursting with love who have trouble expressing it due to trauma in their pasts. Kathy and Gabriel are the antithesis of credible (actors and fashion photographers manage to be self-engrossed and 1 dimensional). It spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list and sold in a record-breaking forty-nine countries.

She tells us she is very observant, that she has to be as a doctor, but she doesn’t seem to notice much of anything. A therapist ( Steve Carell) is held captive by a serial killer ( Domhnall Gleeson) who seeks help to curb his homicidal urges. Theo’s narrative was filled with painfully overdone monologues that have little purpose since they don’t make Theo into a realistic and nuanced character and most of the time they do not even further the plot. In the author’s single quest to deliver the big ‘twist’ he also left big holes in the plot and expected us to overlook implausible things. This was an extremely slow burn mystery, the pace was slowed down with too much detail and descriptions in my opinion.But I think that’s why I was impressed by the basic plot of this book, I think he did a good job of making things come together in a surprising way that’s well set-up…even if some of the other aspects of the book weren’t perfect. However, from that story, Theo realizes that Alicia does recognize him as the masked intruder who tied them up. This story is complex and multi-layered with a labyrinth of characters, each playing their part in the development of the plot.

I’m hopeful the movie will be really good and gone girl-esque, though it might take a while for it to come out. I must confess now itself that if I was not a Doctor and I didn't know how the healthcare system works, I would also have given this book four or five stars. How can your wife be expressing concerns about her lack of relationship with your child and you just shrug it off? I just need to understand one small thing, why did Theo drug Alicia at the end, he had not been the killer, he never knew Alicia would kill Gabriel, why did he try to silence Alicia?So, I’m not sure this is fully explained in the book (someone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong).