Author: Joanna Briscoe
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 371
Buy it here
My Review: 🌟🌟🌟.5/5
Beth is an artist who lives with her husband Sol and her teenage daughter Fern. She has several unresolved issues from childhood which has been straining her current relationships especially with her daughter. Beth’s mother abandoned her when she was a teenager and with Fern reaching that age and behaving aloof, Beth starts getting stressed. When Sol suggests her to visit a therapist, the real story begins. Dr. Tamara Bywater starts seeing Beth but instead of improvement everything starts going downhill. There seems to be an untold sinister chemistry between the doctor and her patient, and as the boundary breaks everything goes out of control. There are lies, seduction and manipulation.
The prose is beautiful and sucks you in. The way the book deals with relationships is very relatable in today’s world. With every passing day relationships are becoming fragile and how a third person can break it off easily seems to be well portrayed in the book. Coming to the doctor-patient relation, it was a forbidden connection, which the doctor seems to exploit to her interest taking advantage of the patient. The book dealt with the mental health of Beth and how as a result of her fatal attraction she grew detached from her family. She started to prioritize the wrong things which she felt was love. She was in need of human connection and found solace in her therapist who in turn turned out to be a master manipulator dealing with her very own complexities. Though they had a sizzling chemistry but it was a toxic one which Beth learnt the hard way. I am not a fan of any of the characters, but i liked Sol and found cursing Beth at times. She was vulnerable and well manipulated. Though it had a nice plot but some parts felt dragged and could have been cut short. If you want to read a story about forbidden relationship along with lies and obsession, you can definitely pick it up.
Buy it here
Follow me on Instagram for more bookish updates
Bong Reader 