Book Review: She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena

Book Title: She Didn’t See It Coming
Author: Shari Lapena
Rating: ★★★★☆
Link to Book: [AMAZON]

This book was my first experience with Shari Lapena. She Didn’t See It Coming pulled me into the story right away with the set up. A woman vanishes from her condo without her keys, purse, phone, and suddenly everyone in her life becomes a suspect. It is exactly the kind of messy, twisty, domestic drama that I needed when I picked it up and it did not disappoint. Shari Lapena did a wonderful job keeping the story moving. The chapters were short, the perspectives rotated through a cast of character’s in a well written way (no confusion to be had). There were a few nights I kept saying ‘one more chapter’ over and over again and staying up way later than I needed to!

I gave it a solid four star rating because I did enjoy it very much. It’s a fast and easy read, the tension stays high, and I was constantly trying to figure out who did it. It was like everyone around this lady was surrounded by liars and my favorite character was probably Detective Salter. She kept everything grounded and gave the book an investigative edge that kept things from getting too over the top.

That being said, I didn’t completely fall in love with the book. A few of the characters felt like they weren’t very deep. The shifting viewpoints, while not confusing and it was kind of nice to see shifting perspectives, it also kept me from getting attached to any of the characters. It was a good book and it had good ending, but it didn’t hit me with a big ‘holy crap’ plot twist like I was hoping it would. It left me feeling more like ‘oh yeah, that tracks.’

Over all though, it was a fun read and I binged it. It is the kind of book you can devour in a few sittings (maybe less if you don’t have a lot of responsibilities). I enjoyed it a lot.