Book Stop Corner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“He who searches for evil, must first look at his own reflection.”



Pierre Lemaitre, an award winning French author, has penned a riveting and brain twisting psychological thriller, Blood Wedding that narrates the story of a mid aged recently widowed woman who faces memory lapses and so when, one morning, she finds the child, whom she babysits, murdered in his bed with a shoelace, from her very own shoes, tied around his neck, she cannot even once remember what happened the previous night despite the evidence screams out her name and points towards her, the only way she can escape it by running, leaving the city and finding a new identity and finally finding a new husband to settle down with, and within a year, she finds a random man, whom she met online, to settle down with, but that man too harbors some ugly secrets like her.



Synopsis:

A gripping standalone psychological thriller about marriage, manipulation and murder by the internationally bestselling author of ALEX.

Sophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.

One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her.

Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online.

But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets.


Sophie is a young widow, who is haunted by the faces of the ghosts from her past and is also faced by sudden memory lapses. And when the child named Leo is found murdered on his bed with a shoelace from her own shoes tied across his neck, Sophie cannot remember how the child has been killed in her presence, the only thing she knows is that she needs to escape it by running away far away from the city of Paris. So Sophie chooses to change her identity, her name, her looks, while deciding to marry a man finally to stop herself from running, the ultimate escape through marriage. And Sophie meets a decent man, with whom she can settle down with, but little did Sophie knew, that this man too harbors some dark and ugly secrets that can snatch away the life that Sophie is planning to have. Can she escape it?

These days it is so difficult to find a fulfilling page turning psychological thriller that will put the readers on their edges or will hook them right from the very start or will shock them with the intensity of the twists. Here comes an award winning and bestselling French crime writer whose book, Blood Wedding, will fail to disappoint the readers instead it will grip them from cover-to-cover. The story opens bit slow and as it is told from the voice of a mentally depressed woman, the narrative might turn out to be a bit difficult to comprehend, but gradually, with the protagonist's troubled back story, the readers will find it easy to contemplate with such a disturbing and depressing narrative.

The author's writing style is remarkable and excellently laced with emotions, honesty and layers that makes the story highly absorbing. The narrative is bit complex in the beginning, but gradually the darkness, creepiness and the chill begins to seep into the dialogues that will give the readers goosebumps all throughout their body. In short, the narrative style is written in an extremely engaging manner. The pacing is really fast as the book will turn out to be an addictive one right from the very start.

The mystery is well developed and heavily layered with mind blowing twists and turns that will keep the readers anticipating with sweat while losing themselves in a maze that the author diligently created with such a dark thriller. Even though some seasoned readers can easily put the two and two together when they are introduced with the second narrative from a new character, yet somehow the author did not leave any kind of loose ends or anything on the face of those readers to let them down, as the author unravels the whole climax with a perplexing end. So when fear is laced with horror, the it gives rise to something like Blood Wedding that is an extremely bone-chilling read.

The characters from the book are also very much layered with flaws and multi dimensional behavioral patterns yet with a hint of reality in their demeanor. The main character, Sophie, is a baffling and depressed woman, whose nightmares and memory lapses push her to the edge of becoming completely insane everyday, yet the readers will find a sympathetic bond towards her sad life to connect with her. Sophie is psychologically twisted human being, who cannot trust herself and still she keeps moving from one place to another. The readers will adore such a dark and complex character. There is another character, who I rather not talk about in my review, as that would spoil the fun of finding out about him.

In a nutshell, this page turning book is a must read for one and all, and trust me when I say this, the book is going to give you such a scare that you need to look behind your back only to make sure that no one is either following you or watching you.

PS: Next time you plan to get cozy with your husband or partner in your house or apartment, make sure the window shades are closed or the window is tightly shut, because you never know...

Verdict: Here comes a new captivating, terrifying and arresting dark thriller from a master storyteller.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Hachette India for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. 
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Author Info:
Pierre Lemaitre is a French novelist and screenwriter. Awards: Award for first novel 2006 Cognac Festival for neat work - Price Point for the European thriller Black Frames - Best French thriller 2009 Montigny Salon for evening dresses.
Visit him here


Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US 
• Amazon India