"The Perfect Fraud"

“The Perfect Fraud”

Written by Ellen Lacorte

Review by Diana Iozzia

I have not been so fascinated and horrified by a psychological thriller in at least a few months. “The Perfect Fraud” has two parallel plot lines, from two very different characters. However, once the two stories converge, the story kicks off on an even more terrifying road, absolutely driving me speechless.

I have always been very sensitive towards thrillers, mysteries, and horror books and films in which children are in peril. This book absolutely spoke to me, as we begin reading about mother, Rena, whose four-year-old daughter has been sick with many different symptoms her entire life so far. With horrible stomach pains and digestive issues, Stephanie has been through the ringer, needing constant medication, a strict diet, and lots of medical attention. Instantly, after learning a lot about psychology, true crime, and medicine, I was immediately concerned that Stephanie could be a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This illness affects parents who find a need to fix and heal their sick children, but in reality, the parents make the children even sicker in many different ways. I soon realized that I was right, after finding out that Stephanie had repeated episodes of extremely high sodium levels, which is often the most fatal way parents hurt their children when suffering from M.B.P. This is a very fast realization, within the first 30 pages or so.

I believe that the narrative allows us to find out about Rena as quickly as possible, rather than allow this disorder to be a plot twist. I believe we are to suspect her and become more terrified as the story progresses. Like most doctors, friends, and family, the reader, like myself, wants Rena to not be hurting Stephanie. We want her to be sick but not sick because her mother is poisoning her. We also grow deeply more haunted and fearful as the choices Rena makes towards Stephanie seem to progress more dangerously.

In the parallel storyline, we receive a more ordinary character, named Claire. Claire is quite unhappy in her marriage. She is informed that her father, who had been ill for most of her childhood into adulthood, has had a severe stroke. She was told to come home. We learn more about Claire throughout her beginning arc. Claire had small psychic abilities when she was young. For example, she was able to guess presents perfectly before opening them. In Claire’s current perspective, she meets Rena on the plane and becomes instantly uncomfortable around her. Claire offers to give Rena a psychic analysis and a tarot card reading if Rena were ever to visit Sedona, where Claire lives.

After this chance meeting, Claire begins to see more psychic dreams and visions and is able to accurately predict all of her customers’ readings. Claire begins to spit up salt water. Claire eventually develops her thoughts and begins to confirm our suspicions: she too thinks that Rena could be poisoning her daughter and lying to medical professionals. She jumps into action, knowing she must Stephanie before it’s too late.

There are some aspects that I wasn’t thrilled by, but the entire rest of the story overshadows them. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Claire’s perspective, with all of the psychic readings. I understand the intention, that they are a means to an end, but it certainly felt a little slow at some points. Additionally, Rena keeps a mommy blog, posting about her daughter’s ailments and speaking to other mommies who have sick children as well. I felt these purposely dumb and grammatically incorrect blog posts felt redundant, but I can see why they were included. They have an important comment at the end of each from Rena’s sister, Janet, who constantly seeks out her sister out of fear of danger for Rena and Stephanie. Lastly, I felt the climax and resolution were a bit rushed. I definitely enjoyed both aspects, but I would have preferred a little more time spent.

In conclusion, this is another new favorite thriller for me. It was new to me to read a psychological and domestic thriller that crossed into factious disorders and Munchausen syndrome by proxy. I was worried at first that this would be exploitative, since there are many forms of media speaking about these specific illnesses lately. I worried that it was a bit like jumping on the bandwagon, but my fears didn’t come to fruition. Although the story included these themes, I felt that the story was not exploitative or cruel to true life victims who have suffered the same fate.

I give this book a five star review out of five stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to read and review as part of a blog tour for Harper Collins. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity. I absolutely loved it.

"The Silent Patient"

"The Silent Patient"

Written by Alex Michaelides

Review written by Diana Iozzia

Like other people, I have enjoyed reading many psychological thrillers and mysteries. To the point where when I have a plot twist ending revealed to me, I find myself either satisfied that it was a good twist that made the book completely new to me, or extremely dissatisfied that the ending ruined the book for me. In the odd case of “The Silent Patient”, I disliked the book until the ending, enjoyed the ending and how it connected the two narratives told to us, but still disliked the book. The ending was satisfying, because it explained everything, or so I thought. In the recent days after reading this book, I hesitated in writing my review, because I felt too many contrasting thoughts. Did I like this aspect? Wait, no I didn’t. Did I like this character? Well, not when I realized the truth.

This book is extremely difficult to discuss without explaining the plot twist. I think this is why the hype is so dramatic. How can you discuss a twist ending that completely changes the book from the first line to the last? This idea is fantastic! It could be a completely new way to write a book. Only then we remember many thrillers that are exactly like this. I compare this book to “Murder on the Orient Express” or “The Sixth Sense”. Once we understand the truth, we dive back into every character’s sentence or motivation. We dive back into the two perspectives and look for inconsistencies, complications, and plot holes. Boy, I am not so sure I enjoyed the second read through. Granted, I did not read every line, but in remembering how the book progressed, I found myself aggravated. When creating a twist ending, I believe that you should create an ending that disrupts the story and turns it on its head. Then, you should have created a story that cohesively glues both the explained narrative to the twist, allowing no questions or holes. Everything should match back together like a puzzle piece. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, as I have enjoyed reading thrillers and mysteries for most of my life. Perhaps it can be difficult to create a unique twist ending nowadays. However, I have read many, many fantastic psychological thrillers that are more enjoyable and more consistent than this.  

We question the motives of both main characters, Dr. Theo Faber’s and Alicia Berenson’s, as we look back into his narrative and then Alice’s diaries. We question how on Earth did this character think like this, once we know the truth? Why did this character think this way? There are so many aspects of this book that do not connect properly once you read the story. We do not comprehend why characters chose certain actions, even though we know understand the truth.

To continue, the main character is first and foremost the narrator, Theo. We have his storyline: him grappling with his wife cheating in addition to his budding career helping Alice as her psychologist. When we read through his perspective, he is unlikeable, irritating, and obsessive: to a point that I found myself not enjoying his character’s perspective. Alice’s diaries slowly progressing, explaining her husband’s behavior and her increasing dislike for him makes us wonder why she has decided to kill him. We also have side characters that we question their motives and decisions as well, but I do not think they received the attention they needed in the story. They did not feel fleshed out or realistic.

In conclusion, I personally do not recommend this novel. I enjoyed Alex Michaelides's writing, but his talent was not a match for the story. I would still happily read his next book, but "The Silent Patient" just did not do it for me. Perhaps this could be a good psychological thriller if you enjoy going back into every single sentence and picking apart each meaning, but I do not. I enjoyed the ending, because I did not see it coming, but it still does not make this an enjoyable read for me. I am glad I stuck it through, but this is just not the book for me. Perhaps I'll read it again in five years.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for reviewing purposes.

"Looker"

"Looker"
Written by Laura Sims
Review Written by Diana Iozzia



"Looker" is a highly enjoyable, unsettling psychological thriller compacted into only 180 pages. We are introduced to our unreliable narrator, who has become utterly obsessed with her neighbor, 'the actress'. We see an incredibly fast plot, with disturbing and uncomfortable scenes as interest turns into pure obsession.

This book would be enjoyable for people who enjoy unreliable narrators. For example, Ruth Ware's books, Paula Hawkins's books, Gillian Flynn's books, and the recent hit, "You" by Caroline Kepnes.

Half the book is just in our narrator's mind as well, which leaves us wondering what actually was real, and what our narrator imagined, fueled by insanity. We do not often read psychological thrillers, in the case that the character completely spirals down mentally and physically, so this is a rare treat. I highly recommend this fun and impulsive read. I did not want to stop reading until I reached the fever pitch.

Personally, the only thing I disliked about this book was the pacing. Because it was so compact, I still had a thousand questions, but I guess the point is to leave the reader wanting more? I most certainly do.

I received this advanced reader's copy for reviewing purposes. Thank you to Scribner and Simon and Schuster.