#BookReview: The Elizas by Sara Shepard

the elizasAbout the Book

New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars Sara Shepard makes her mark on adult fiction with this Hitchcockian double narrative composed of lies, false memories, and a protagonist who must uncover the truth for survival.

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.

Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?

The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel, until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.

Fans of Pretty Little Liars, S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, and Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10will be drawn to the drama of feeling like no one is on your side, the high tension of not knowing who you can trust, the hair-raising truths hidden among lies, and a faceless, nameless presence controlling Eliza’s life from the shadows.

My Review

Ooh this book gave me the chills. The Elizas is described as a double narrative and is being coined a twisty psychological thriller, so that meant I was pretty darn curious to give this a read. Because Eliza Fontaine is an unreliable narrator, that meant I was on edge while reading the majority of the book. What was true, what was made up, what was simply a lie? There are definitely plenty of blurred lines between fact and fiction, and Eliza’s novel that is based loosely on her life. It’s a bit challenging to write a review because I don’t want to give too much away of course, but also because it’s just one of those novels that you have to read to understand the depth and complexity being written. Once you become part of Eliza’s world you’ll want to put all the pieces together, and this clever tale kept me quite entertained.

4 stars