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A review by jasonfurman
Verity by Colleen Hoover
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It was a long day after little sleep. I had a long flight with a connection. I started a short story collection and read and loved several of the stories Machado de Assis's The Looking-Glass: Essential Stories. But you never want to read too many stories in a row and I was a bit too unfocused for 19th century Brazilian literary fiction. So I turned to Verity--partly based on my daughter's recommendation, partly based on seeing Colleen Hoover everywhere and being curious about what it was all about, but mostly because I read the first two (short) chapters in the Kindle sample and was completely hooked. The 20 seconds it took to buy the full Kindle book was probably the longest pause I took in my breathless and fully absorbed reading of the entire book, finishing just before my flight landed at 1:30am.
Is Verity great? No. Some of the writing is weak. The characters and situations are a bit cliched. A bunch of it is over-the-top absurd (although some of that turns out to be a clever aspect of the artifice). BUT, as snobby as I would like to be, I can't escape the fact that I could not turn my eyes away from it. I've read a few domestic thrillers (e.g., The Girl on the Train) and liked them but always found myself disappointed because their entire raison d'être was being thrilling and they somehow fell short. This one, however, did not and delivered exactly what it promised--thus rating it five stars when evaluated on its own terms.
Is Verity great? No. Some of the writing is weak. The characters and situations are a bit cliched. A bunch of it is over-the-top absurd (although some of that turns out to be a clever aspect of the artifice). BUT, as snobby as I would like to be, I can't escape the fact that I could not turn my eyes away from it. I've read a few domestic thrillers (e.g., The Girl on the Train) and liked them but always found myself disappointed because their entire raison d'être was being thrilling and they somehow fell short. This one, however, did not and delivered exactly what it promised--thus rating it five stars when evaluated on its own terms.