I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh surprised me. And for that I loved it and highly recommend it. Often I read a book and see the ending coming; I know exactly what’s going to happen. And although I still might love that book, I am the tiniest bit disappointed when it fails to surprise. Not so with this. It shocked the heck out of me.
I don’t want to say much about the plot for fear of giving too much away, but if you have already read and enjoyed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, then I would recommend this novel next for an unreliable-narrator-in-a-suspenseful-crime-thriller trilogy.
I choose to read books without knowing anything about them. I don’t like to know what happens until I read it for myself. I don’t like to go into things under the weight of others’ views. I like being the critic so I try to read/watch/experience things before I hear about them from everyone else. So I didn’t know what was going to happen in this book. I may not have bought it if I’d known what happens on the very first page.
The novel begins with a mother letting go of her child’s hand while crossing a street. There are consequences. This is something terrifying in my world of small children and big fear. It’s reason to put a book back on the shelf and walk away quickly, praying under my breath that nothing like that ever happens to my babies, begging the universe to remember it’s only fiction, putting it out of my mind so the horror doesn’t seep into our lives like a sinister promise.
But I couldn’t put it down.
Although it’s not a book I would normally read, I had to know what was going to happen next. The writing was excellent. The action was compelling. I couldn’t stand not knowing. I stayed up until 3 a.m. reading through to the end so I could find out. And it was worth it.
If you are up for a suspenseful domestic crime novel that will hook you right away and keep you reading late, I highly recommend this book!
