Book Review- He said, she said

Title- He said, she said
Author- Erin Kelly
Published-  April 20th 2017
Genre- Thriller, crime, mystery, psychological
Length- 416 pages
Rating- 3.25/5
Synopsis (Goodreads)- In the hushed aftermath of a total eclipse, Laura witnesses a brutal attack.

She and her boyfriend Kit call the police, and in that moment, it is not only the victim’s life that is changed forever.

Fifteen years on, Laura and Kit live in fear.

And while Laura knows she was right to speak out, the events that follow have taught her that you can never see the whole picture: something – and someone – is always in the dark…

Review- I received an ARC of this from the publisher so thank you to them.

Overall this book was a disappointment. I read a lot of thrillers and this was just average, at least for me. This is very much a “slow burn”, some people love that, I don’t, I prefer more action, so that is part of why I didn’t love it the way some people seem to.

The book is told at two different times, past and present and in each time period, there are two narrators. It works well, who and when it is is clearly marked out so there is no confusion. Personally I like multiple perspectives but I know a lot of people don’t so that is something to have in mind when deciding whether or not to pick this up.

The writing in general was fine, no complaints about style, events are clear and timelines make sense. I do have a problem however with some of the inaccuracies. I don’t know enough about the legal system to definitively comment there but a few bits seemed unrealistic. The medicine however I do know, and it annoyed me. Medicine in fiction is almost always wrong but in this case it annoyed me more than it has in other books. As an author, if you don’t know the medicine, either find out, or don’t put it in the book. One person in the book is described as a registrar but is only three years post qualification. You cannot be a registrar after three years. If you go straight through training, your fifth post graduate year would be your first registrar year. It’s a basic fact, it shouldn’t be wrong. Another comment that really annoyed me was the claim that only vets train longer than architects, seriously? I don’t know anything about architect training post degree but I do know about vet training. You can be a fully qualified vet, working completely unsupervised many years before you ever would be as a doctor, even a GP, which is by far the shortest training. Again, basic facts. This claim added nothing to the story, so was just a pointless annoyance. Also, do people seriously think doctors still wear white coats in the UK?

The story…..was a bit dull. A lot of the book was just pointless padding, the same story could have been achieved in a book half as long. What were supposed to be the big “revelations” weren’t really unexpected or interesting. There wasn’t really any build-up to them either, they just happened. Some of what one character thinks is also desperately over dramatic and makes a character that you should really feel for, annoying.

Overall I wasn’t really impressed with this. If you like a “slow burn” give it a go but otherwise there are better books in the genre.

Advertisement