Review of I Become Her, Joe Hart, 4.5. Stars

Welcome to "A Fleeting Thought" where I post relatively short and to the point book reviews.

Book summary at bottom of page.

This book was a damn near perfect thriller that had me confused and gastered my flabbers. Twist after TWIST from about 55% on!

It's a dual perspective jumping timeline book. In following Imogen's narration, she would go back to memories that provided much needed context and I liked that a lot. Every detail of the book felt like it added to the story and wasn't just filler.

Some people don't like an unreliable narrator, but I had so much fun following Imogen. I wanted more for her, wanted to root for her through her confusion. From the beginning, my girl was unhinged and I didn't know what was real or what she was making up in her head.

I thoroughly was confused until about page 300 when it all clicked and my jaw dropped. I guessed several times who the culprit was, what was going on, but I was wrong each time.

There were a couple of points made by the characters advocating for women and how hard it can be to be a woman and usually it comes off as pandering from a male author but I think Joe Hart did a good job.

Why didn't it get 5 stars from me?

There are some things that are pet peeves for me/I just can't get past and the use of the same time of phrase multiple times throughout the book drives me absolutely up the wall.

Imogen mentioned her stomach churning in some shape of form 17 times. SEVEN. TEEN. "My stomach clenched. My stomach flipped. My stomach constricted." Oh. My. God. Not, "my heart stopped. Adrenaline surged through me. I went cold with realization." Nope. "My stomach tightened." or something to that affect. Drove me nuts.

Imogen also "flipped" her brother off 4 separate times and her mouth was consistently dry another 7 or 8 times. I need diversity in explaining these types of feelings and interactions.

I felt that the ending seemed slightly improbable and fell a bit flat for me. I was left with too many logical questions at the end for the ending to feel real.

Final thoughts:

Be that as it may, I still was up late reading and did NOT want to put the story down and I definitely want to read more from this author.

Book Summary:

A wife's search for her husband's true identity spirals into a nightmare of fear and paranoia in a twisting novel of psychological suspense.