"Girl in the Rearview Mirror"

“Girl in the Rearview Mirror”

Written by Kelsey Rae Dimberg

Review written by Diana Iozzia

“Girl in the Rearview Mirror” was a very divisive thriller for me. I think that my interest level in this book was high when I first began, but I grew less and less interested as I continued to read. The book follows the story of Finn (female), who becomes entangled with many mysteries surrounding the political family she works for. Finn is shady, all on her own, from the secrets she hides and the stories she tells the readers. However, I felt that the intrigue paid off to almost non-existent suspense and insignificant plot reveals. I give credit where credit’s due. This is a good first debut novel, but it just did not blow me out of the water.

There are so many different reveals and plot twists, that it will be hard to review this book without giving much away. To do so, I will list what I liked and disliked about this book, because I’d rather not spoil any details.

Likes:

1. The dialogue was fantastic. It was very realistic and natural. The characters had their own distinct style of speaking.

2. There is a fantastic twist halfway through about the granddaughter of the Senator, the child of the two main characters, Philip and Marina. Goodness gracious, I didn’t see that coming. That certainly knocked my socks off in the best way.

3. I’ve always liked an unsettling final chapter.

Dislikes:

1. The rearview mirror motif was ever-present and extremely overdone.

2. I really disliked the writing style, because there was too much detail. I enjoyed mostly all of the scenes; however, the dialogue was very omniscient. Finn spoke about how characters felt and how they experienced moments that she was not there for. There was one scene where she spoke about the past political campaigns and knew far too much detail, that made her all-knowing rather than the typical first-person narrative. It didn’t make sense to me.

3. The final reveals of all the characters motivations felt very limiting and could have been explored further. The ending felt very rushed. The climax was just plain anticlimactic.

4. Sadly, this book just did not grip me, the way we hope for with suspense thrillers. I did not feel I was on the edge of my seat. I was not desperate to pick the book back up again.

In conclusion, I do recommend this book. This wasn’t a favorite of mine, but the writer has great chops. I feel that she will be a great writer, but I just wasn’t that intrigued by the plot and the characters of this one. I fully plan to read books by her in the future. This book reminded me of “The Last Mrs. Parrish” and “The Other Mother”.

I received this book in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to William Morrow.