Book Review: Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica

I have discovered that it is fairly hard to review a thriller/suspense novel as you cannot say too much without giving anything away, therefore this going to be short and sweet…

Author: Mary Kubica

Genre: Thriller

Version: Hardback (320 pages)

Publisher:  MIRA (May 17, 2016)

Source: NetGalley & Purchased

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Book Synopsis:

An electrifying tale of deceit and obsession from “New York Times” bestselling author of “The Good Girl “Mary Kubica

In downtown Chicago, Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her roommate Quinn Collins to question how well she really knew her friend. Meanwhile, in a small town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more sinister.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger’s spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us.”

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My Thoughts:

When I first laid eyes on Don’t You Cry, I knew I was going to read it.  I mean just look at that cover!  It is absolutely stunning.  Even though I was approved for a ARC for review, I still  went out and purchased the book prior to reading it.  I just had to have it for my bookshelf.  This was my second Kubica book, my first being Pretty Baby, which I listened to a few months ago via audiobook.  You can read my review here → Book Review: Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica.

Don’t You Cry starts off with one of our main characters, Quinn, waking up to the fact that her roommate has gone missing.  Esther, or “Saint Esther” as Quinn refers to her, is seemingly the perfect roommate, but as Quinn digs deeper and deeper into her roommate’s past, Quinn realizes that she may not know Esther as well as she thought she did… Enter our second main character, Alex, an 18 year old who despite loads of potential, is just coasting through life.  One day, while Alex is working his dead-end job at a coffee shop, a mysterious woman walks in and sits down.  Alex immediately feels drawn to her.  Who is this woman? 

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I felt that the alternating perspectives worked very well in Don’t You Cry.  It really set the tone of the book as we do not discover the connection between Alex and Quinn until the end of the book.  I really enjoyed formulating theories about how it was all going to pan out.  I had guessed some aspects of the plotline, but by no means had everything worked out.  One thing Kubica does very well is to lure her readers into a false pretense that we have things all figured out, but then throws us for a loop.  Her characters also tend to be more than what they seem.  I like to be kept on my toes, and I feel like Kubica succeeded in Don’t You Cry.  Overall, I really enjoyed how this thriller panned out.  It was enough to surprise me, while still being believable at the same time.

The book starts off with a bang, but quickly loses steam in the middle.  This book was painfully slow to set up, but towards the end it is a quick race to the finish.  Really my biggest hang up about this book would be the pacing.  This seems typical of Kubica’s books, at least it has been true of the two I’ve read.  The other thing I didn’t particularly care for was the romance subplot in Quinn’s story.  I think the book would have been better off without it as it was not developed enough to add to the story and just felt awkward to me.  I think this is a worthwhile read, but not Kubica’s best book in my opinion.  I preferred her other book, Pretty Baby, to this one.  I have heard good things of her other novel, The Good Girl, and will definitely be checking it out in the future.

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My Rating: 

*Actually 3.5 stars*

Thanks to MIRA via NetGalley for a copy of Don’t You Cry in exchange for an honest review.

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About the Author:

Mary Kubica is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL and PRETTY BABY.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in History and American Literature, and lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children, where she enjoys photography, gardening and caring for the animals at a local shelter.  Her first novel THE GOOD GIRL received a Strand Critics Nomination for Best First Novel and was a nominee in the Goodreads Choice Awards in Debut Goodreads Author and in Mystery & Thriller for 2014.

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