Saturday 18 May 2024

ONE TUESDAY, EARLY by Annalisa Crawford @AnnalisaCrawf #RBRT

 4 out of 5 stars


On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads




How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: mysterious psychological drama.

A curious and interesting book that kept me turning the pages from the outset.  Finn and Lexi have been together for five years and have their ups and downs, until one morning after a drunken night when Lexi wakes up in a strange, alternative reality.  From Finn's point of view, she's disappeared.  Left him, and everything else in her life.  The chapters alternate from his and her points of view, with Lexi's being written in the second person, which should have felt awkward but for the most part worked very well.

As the story goes on, we see Lexi stuck in this strange place in time, and Finn dealing with his life without her - or not dealing with it.  I realised what was happening to Lexi about half-way through, though the ending still held plenty of surprises.  The book is extremely well-written and edited, nicely paced, and Ms Crawford can certainly tell a tale.

It's a particularly hard story to review without giving spoilers, but the next part might be a bit spoiler-ish, so please be aware!

The entire story spans 20 years, and I was quite a way through before I thought, hang on, why isn't this woman's disappearance being investigated more thoroughly?  By the police, and her aunt, who'd brought her up and was like a mother to her?  By her close friends, who loved her?  Nobody appeared to do anything other than ring up Finn to ask him if he'd heard from her.  This bit didn't ring true for me.  If realistic investigations had been carried out, the plot would have fallen apart.  I still enjoyed it, though, and was able to suspend my disbelief.  Mostly.


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