The Death of Us by Abigail Dean is (for me, as a non-thriller-reader) bit a dark and exciting book that stayed with me after reading - sometimes I only wanted to read one chapter and ended up reading several. I enjoyed it overall, even though not that much actually happens in terms of action. For me, it feels less like a thriller (as stated by the author) and more (perhaps) like a drama about what happens after a terrible event and how they can change relationships, plans and/or futures.
What I really liked was the writing style. The story is told from different perspectives and across different timeframes, which makes it feel a bit like a puzzle that slowly comes together. At first, I found it a bit strange that our main character Isabel sometimes addresses the offender directly, but over time I actually liked this element. It gives the story something unique and makes the impact of his actions feel more real.
I also appreciated that the crimes are not described in too much detail. It is enough to understand how cruel they are, but not so much that it becomes too much to read.
At first, I was a bit confused about the different characters and their relationships, because a lot of people aren’t introduced properly when they first appear, but this got better in the second part. Some parts of the story also felt a bit fast or not fully explained.
I probably would not have picked up this book based on the cover, but I am really glad I read it and I can recommend it to others.
