Friday, January 18, 2019

Review: The Spite Game

Title: The Spite Game
Author: Anna Snoekstra
Publisher: HQ, 29th October 2018
Pages: 320 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: Mystery and Thrillers
My Rating: 4.5 cups


Synopsis:
Everyone does bad things when no one is watching


Mercilessly bullied in high school, Ava knows she needs to put the past behind her and move on, but she can’t—not until she’s exacted precise, catastrophic revenge on the people who hurt her the most.


First, she watches Saanvi. Flawlessly chic and working hard at a top architectural firm, Saanvi has it all together on the surface. But everyone does bad things when they think no one is watching and Ava only wants what’s fair—to destroy Saanvi’s life the way her own was destroyed.


Next, she watches Cass. She’s there as Cass tries on wedding dresses, she’s there when Cass picks out a cake, she’s there when Cass betrays her fiancĂ©. She’s the reason Cass’s entire future comes crashing down.


Finally, Ava watches Mel. Mel was always the ringleader and if anyone has to pay, it’s her. But one tiny slipup and Ava realizes the truth: Mel knows she’s being watched, and she’s ready to play Ava’s games to the bitter end.


My Thoughts


I really enjoy reading psychological thrillers and this was no exception, it kept me gripped right till the end. It begins with the protagonist, Ava, sitting in a police station after supposedly committing a crime.


“I know what you’ll want. My confession. Plain and simple, just the facts. That isn’t how this is going to work. If you want me to confess, then you’ll have to listen to the whole thing. My story.”


The next part begins 10 years earlier when Ava is still at high school and she befriends three girls who are the ‘cool girls’. Without spoiling the story, the girls do some horrible, unforgivable things to Ava. The whole rest of her life is influenced by these events at high school.

The story kept changing which time frame it was in, one minute it was 2018 and Ava was at the police station, the next it was 2008 and she was moving house and still in high school or it was 2011 and she was planning and implementing her revenge. I enjoyed this aspect of storytelling, it kept it very interesting all the way through the book.

One of the other characters, Beatrice, suffers from an illness which is minimally mentioned throughout the book, but somehow endears you to her.

“After a few seconds, she started to cry. ‘I hate this,’ she whispered into my ear.”

There is a very clever twist right at the end which I did not see coming, so it was a very good ending. I highly recommend this book to any lovers of psychological thrillers, it kept me interested and wanting to turn pages right to the very end.

“Finally, I see you. Your face is unknown to me, the short haircut, the lines on the forehead. But your eyes, I know your eyes. They are exactly as they were.”



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.


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