Liz Nugent | Unraveling Oliver

I had recently heard of a new thriller coming out that was being hyped up well before it's release. I often find myself thankful for Instagram as the other bloggers I follow often get ARCs (jealous) and can quickly pick up what's going to be hot. 

Unraveling Oliver was one of those recommendations that everyone seemed to be talking about. Still tired from a busy week and dealing with my book-hangover from Into The Water, I quickly picked up this read from my June TBR pile to start as it was a little over 200 pages and I could get through it while doing laundry and trying to get a weeks worth of cleaning and organizing in.

Plot:

Oliver Ryan is a handsome and charismatic success story. He lives a life of enviable privilege and ease with his wife Alice. Enviable until, one evening after dinner, Oliver attacks Alice so viciously that he beats her into a coma.

Oliver is stunned by his own actions. In the aftermath, as everyone tries to make sense of his astonishing act of savagery, he tells his story. So do those whose paths he has crossed over five decades. What unfolds is both tragic and monstrous, a story of shame, envy, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation.

Only Oliver knows what he had to do to get the life he craved, and to which he felt entitled. But even he is in for a shock when the past finally catches up with him.

Review:

Honestly, this one started off dark and literally with a punch as Oliver attacks poor Alice and we are quickly thrown into the past.

The different character perspectives with this one was a good idea as I had to kind of get a feel as to who Oliver was as he came off rather cold and distant in his own narrative. Well, he appeared that way to the other characters too.

The thing that I didn't enjoy and was confusing was that some were talking about Alice as well and the character of Moya just seemed really pointless to me.

While wordy for a 200 page novel, I often felt I was reading into too much detail about the character perspective's pasts and explaining things from where they were from or what their families had went through that I often forgot this was about Oliver and Alice. Especially Alice. While she remained an important part of this novel in the beginning, she was often forgotten about and more was focused on Oliver.

While he was described as a cold and calculating person, I just thought the explanation behind his actions and how he became the way he did wasn't believable. I kept pushing through as I have found myself in the position before where a book wasn't grabbing my attention and the ending was worth it.

Then the ending came. This whole book just fell flat for me. The characters weren't anything special to me, the plot was messy and didn't make sense, and in the end I didn't feel like there was a shock for what it could have been an it didn't seem highly resolved.

 While it didn't seem impressive or enjoyable for me, this may be a good  psychological thriller for fans of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" as I can see the resemblance in plots. Maybe it was too hyped up or maybe it was more psychological than I was expecting and/or wanting. While I did enjoy the beginning and the last two chapters, I think in the end I was just happy it was over.

Rating: 2/5