The Life She Had

I enjoyed this book, but the first half was better than the second half, so that's why 3 stars. In the first half the tension ratchets up steadily, and even though I suspected an unreliable narrator, it did not spoil that tension for me. In the second half though, the book becomes a bit of a shambles. Totally unexplained and unrelated things are brought up, but instead of increasing the tension, it just slows it down and makes it a bit of mess. The story idea is a good one--a case of assumed identity and an interesting enough back story for each of the protagonists. The book is set in present-day Florida, which is a decent setting for a book of this nature. Celeste and Daisy do not trust each other, but, at the same time, they have a show more lot in common. Daisy knows that Celeste is an imposter, but Daisy tries to play the innocent bystander. But when things get out of hand, Daisy finds herself in some trouble. I couldn't help thinking that it was trouble of her own making, as she made some very thoughtless and damaging mistakes. There were also some dropped storylines, and others that just made no sense. All in all though, it was an entertaining and quick read. For lovers of lighter suspense novels, this might be a good bet. show less