Reading in the Mountains

You think you know the people you love.

You think you know who to trust.

You think you know how a story ends.

Cute. Wrong.

Nadeeka is convinced Jamie is cheating. She knows the signs—she’s lived this nightmare before. So she does what any self-respecting, emotionally spiraling woman would do: she goes to confront him. Except… this isn’t a confrontation. It’s a crime scene. Jamie is lying dead in the living room. Blood everywhere. Chaos. Police. A DI Burton asking questions while everything—his electronics, her phone, their life—gets swallowed into evidence bags. And just like that, love turns into suspicion.

Day two: more questions.

Day three: she’s allowed back home. The house is spotless. Too spotless.

And I’m sitting there like… okay? Cheating, house drama, emotional damage—been there, read that, yawn. Then part two hits. Like a train. No brakes. No warning.

Nadeeka goes to the police to retrieve her phone… and is told there was no murder.

No DI Burton.

No crime scene.

No report.

Excuse me???

Jamie is dead. That part is real. Everything else? Fabricated. And suddenly the book wakes up. Now we have Lauren, the actual detective, and her fiancé/colleague Fraser circling Nadeeka like sharks, because guess what? She’s not just a grieving girlfriend anymore—she’s a suspect. And I was locked in. This is where the title finally earns its paycheck: it’s not what you think. Not even close. I expected one kind of story—something straightforward, maybe emotional, maybe even predictable. Instead, I got twists that actually slapped. Not gentle plot turns. Full-on narrative whiplash.

BUT. And this is a big but. Somewhere along the way, the story lost me.

By part three, I was mentally packing my bags, hovering over the DNF button like it owed me money. It was still twisty, still trying to be clever, but the themes—especially the focus on racism—felt flat for me. Not because they aren’t important, but because the execution didn’t hit. It dragged. It disconnected me.

So yeah… twisty? Yes.

Messy? Also yes.

Addictive in parts? Absolutely.

But overall?

A chaotic almost, not a solid hit.