Beautiful Liars by Isabel Ashdown
Beautiful Liars by Isabel Ashdown is a thrilling story that contains many twists and secrets. Beautiful Liars takes place many years after a girl named Juliet goes missing in London. The main characters are Juliet’s two friends, Martha and Liv. When Juliet first went missing, the two girls kept Juliet’s secrets, that could have possibly been connected to where Juliet was. Martha and Liv soon went their separate ways and Juliet’s case was soon given up on. Many years later, when Martha is a TV celebrity, she decides to create a detective show involving real cases. The first case she decides to attempt to crack was Juliet’s. Martha wants to get in contact with Liv by sending her a letter, however Liv no longer lives in that residence. The second perspective we read from is Casey’s. Readers don’t quite know who Casey is at first or why she is so interested in Juliet’s case. Readers do find out within the first chapters that Casey lives in Liv’s old residence and receives Martha’s letter. Casey decides she wants to pose as Liv, however her reasons are not clear to readers and made me suspicious of Casey.
I think for most readers this book would be difficult to read because the author tried to add too many elements into the books 316 pages. The author added flashbacks that would become especially confusing because the book has two different perspectives. The book’s perspective of Martha is more clear because readers know everything she knows about the case and there really aren’t any dark spots in her timeline that she can fill. The main problem is that we do not really get Liv’s story, because Casey is posing as Liv. Martha is not able to fill in the missing pieces that Liv knows about. Casey makes the whole plot confusing as we do not know about her relation to the case or the other characters, and we do not know what she knows about the case. Basically, Martha tells the readers everything she knows, while Casey only tells the readers what she wants us to know. This makes the book more mysterious and exciting, however it can also be confusing. I wish the other would have made the book longer or split the book into a series so readers could follow it better. I feel like the author gives us too much information at once, which is difficult to understand. Overall, this book is a good read if you want a mysterious thriller, however readers should take their time and make sure they are reading carefully so they do not get confused.
I like how your review touched on all the pros and cons about Beautiful Liars. I especially think your discussion about the novel's occasional obscurity and complex story was helpful to future readers. Certainly, making plot events more subtle and adding flashbacks can create a much more exciting ride, but on the other hand, it can make a book difficult to read, and as you said, pretty confusing. I like how you didn't immediately use this flaw to write the whole book off -- instead, you advised readers to read through with care and thought. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I thought the summary was helpful, and I liked how you mentioned what you were thinking as you read the book instead of just saying what happened. I also appreciate that you didn't spoil the end. This book sounds interesting, and I might check it out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review! This sounds like a book that has an interesting premise but was not executed to it's full potential. I liked that you gave the positives and negatives. I agree that it would be ideal to have Liv's point of view and less chance for confusion. Overall sounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic review! I really enjoyed your summary and how you touched upon the main topics, yet kept it concise. It was especially great because you added your view of the book in the summary. This book seems really interesting and I could see myself checking it out.
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