Author: Liz Nugent
Expected Publication: August 22nd 2017 by Gallery/Scout Press
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 272 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Usually, I am not a fan of a book told backwards, but as you unfold or unravel Oliver, there is no other way. Each character is being interviewed and in the telling of their individual stories, the truth of Oliver is revealed and reviled in this psychological thriller. As you read, you are putting bits and parts together. It is not until the author voices the actual words that you find yourself gasping at the realization of where she is going with this narrative. That the little fragments are coming together and where once you had felt sorry for Oliver, you grow to despise who he is and what he had done to those around him.
There is no shocking or surprising revelation that Alice is in a coma. Oliver took responsibility from the start. What there was, was that boiling point and when Alice, dear sweet perfect Alice, went too far and looked into the box that she was told never to touch that Oliver’s lies came pouring out. Oliver could not have that, he had constructed his story too finely to have it all unravel now.
There is nothing random about Oliver or this book, each part of the story is finely tuned, on point with the times and truths of the generation. From Oliver hidden away by a father that could not come to terms with his own choices. A wife that was blinded by her belief in a man, a friend that was not willing, until it was too late, to see what was in front of him. People eager to see only a small part and assumed a larger picture and in the end, a psychopath that was willing to lie to the one and only person that needed nothing from him but the truth.
I admit, in the beginning I actually felt sorry for Oliver. How could the world be so torturous to a young boy? Yet, by the end, there was no pity left. There was raw emotion, yet no lasting feeling of sorrow for who he had become. Was Oliver born with a broken mind or did the world break it for him. I guess that is a question that will never be answered and what would make for a great reading group discussion. Each person will come away with a different response to this book, but at the same time, I will guarantee you that no one would want to be part of Oliver’s world.
There is no shocking or surprising revelation that Alice is in a coma. Oliver took responsibility from the start. What there was, was that boiling point and when Alice, dear sweet perfect Alice, went too far and looked into the box that she was told never to touch that Oliver’s lies came pouring out. Oliver could not have that, he had constructed his story too finely to have it all unravel now.
There is nothing random about Oliver or this book, each part of the story is finely tuned, on point with the times and truths of the generation. From Oliver hidden away by a father that could not come to terms with his own choices. A wife that was blinded by her belief in a man, a friend that was not willing, until it was too late, to see what was in front of him. People eager to see only a small part and assumed a larger picture and in the end, a psychopath that was willing to lie to the one and only person that needed nothing from him but the truth.
I admit, in the beginning I actually felt sorry for Oliver. How could the world be so torturous to a young boy? Yet, by the end, there was no pity left. There was raw emotion, yet no lasting feeling of sorrow for who he had become. Was Oliver born with a broken mind or did the world break it for him. I guess that is a question that will never be answered and what would make for a great reading group discussion. Each person will come away with a different response to this book, but at the same time, I will guarantee you that no one would want to be part of Oliver’s world.
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