His and Hers by Alice Feeney


His & Hers by Alice Feeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alice Feeney rocked everybody's world with her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie. That book is one that makes you flip back to the beginning and look for any clues you might've missed. How could a twist be so unpredictable and smooth?! However, her second book, I Know Who You Are, was just too crazy unbelievable to me for me to like it. So taking on His & Hers, I wasn't sure if I would like it. But Alice Feeney completely recovered her reputation with me.

When getting to know the characters, I started with a dislike to Anna almost instantly. She is an alcoholic with no interest in recovery, bitter towards the woman who is taking over her job, and seemingly selfish. Over time, I came to feel sympathetic towards Anna, then actually like her. It turns out that her daughter passed away and her husband is now an ex and is no longer in her life. Her mother is in ill health and Anna finds it difficult to go home. She also had a difficult childhood, as her father was an alcoholic who beat her mother.

The same with Jack Harper; he seemed so over-the-top jaded and just makes some really insanely, frustratingly, stupid decisions. He was having sex with the first victim the night she was murdered, but he refuses to reveal this to his coworkers, even though they are obviously going to find evidence tying him to the scene.

The characters often determine how much I like a book (how can I enjoy reading about people I hate? the notable exception being Gone Girl), but in this case, I was really glad that I stuck through it because I did like the characters more and more as the book moved along... even though I wasn't sure which one the murderer was.

After I finished the epilogue, I couldn't believe the twist- in a good way! It was pretty crazy, but just crazy enough to be on this side of believable.

https://kitkaboodleandfamily.blogspot...

View all my reviews

Synopsis:

Alice Feeney rocked everybody's world with her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie. That book is one that makes you flip back to the beginning and look for any clues you might've missed. How could a twist be so unpredictable and smooth?! However, her second book, I Know Who You Are, was just too crazy unbelievable to me for me to like it. So taking on His & Hers, I wasn't sure if I would like it. But Alice Feeney completely recovered her reputation with me.

Anna Andrews finally has what she wants. Almost. She’s worked hard to become the main TV presenter of the BBC’s lunchtime news. So, when someone threatens to take her dream job away, she will do almost anything to keep it.

When asked to cover a murder in Blackdown, Anna is reluctant to go. But when the victim turns out to be one of her childhood friends, she can’t leave. It soon becomes clear that Anna isn’t just covering the story, she’s at the heart of it.

When the body of a young woman is discovered, DCI Jack Harper decides not to tell anyone that he knew the victim, until he begins to realise he is a suspect in his own murder investigation.

One of them knows more than they are letting on. Someone isn’t telling the truth.
Whose story should you believe? His or Hers?

My Feelings/Reactions:

When getting to know the characters, I started with a dislike to Anna almost instantly. She is an alcoholic with no interest in recovery, bitter towards the woman who is taking over her job, and seemingly selfish. Over time, I came to feel sympathetic towards Anna, then actually like her. It turns out that her daughter passed away and her husband is now an ex and is no longer in her life. Her mother is in ill health and Anna finds it difficult to go home. She also had a difficult childhood, as her father was an alcoholic who beat her mother.

The same with Jack Harper; he seemed so over-the-top jaded and just makes some really insanely, frustratingly, stupid decisions. He was having sex with the first victim the night she was murdered, but he refuses to reveal this to his coworkers, even though they are obviously going to find evidence tying him to the scene. 

The characters often determine how much I like a book (how can I enjoy reading about people I hate? the notable exception being Gone Girl), but in this case, I was really glad that I stuck through it because I did like the characters more and more as the book moved along... even though I wasn't sure which one the murderer was. 

After I finished the epilogue, I couldn't believe the twist- in a good way! It was pretty crazy, but just crazy enough to be on this side of believable. 

Excerpts: 

Favorite Quotes:

You buy the car you always wanted, but in a couple of years you want a new one. You buy the house of your dreams, but then decide that your dreams weren’t big enough. You marry the woman you love, but then you forget why.

In my experience, there are two kinds of women: those who spend a lifetime trying not to turn into their mothers, and those who literally seem to want nothing more. I often find both varieties get the complete opposite of what they hoped for—one set become carbon copies of the women they didn’t want to be, while the others never live up to their own expectations of who they think they should have become. Chillingly accurate.

Youth fools us into thinking there are infinite paths to choose from in life; maturity tricks us into thinking there is only one.

Spoilers:
  •  
  •  
  •  
Holy crap. Anna's mother was the killer. 

But first, let's back up. 

It turns out that Anna and Jack had been married. They had a beautiful little daughter named Charlotte, but she passed away in her sleep when she was very young and in Anna's mother's care. Their marriage did not survive. 

Jack went on to have an affair with Rachel, the first woman who died, but he lived with his sister, Zoe, and her daughter, Olivia. 

When Anna was a teenager, she got involved with a group of popular girls at her school; Rachel, Zoe, and Helen. Anna hosted a party for her 16th birthday and invited someone less popular- the very anxious, outcast Catherine Kelly, as well as her popular friends. After drinking for a bit, the girls went into the woods where they met a bunch of men. Rachel, Helen, and Zoe arranged for the men to be there, and they (GRAPHIC) attempt to rape Anna and successfully rape Catherine, who moves away. In addition, Zoe later sends Anna a completely evil, terrible,  disgusting threat in the form of cat's fur to warn Anna against telling anyone what happened. 

Catherine Kelly became Cat Jones, the BBC anchor. Zoe became Anna's sister-in-law. Zoe had been murdering cats and using them for fur in her different sewing projects. 

When Anna's mother found a suicide note written by Anna years and years before, she discovers the truth about Anna's 16th birthday party and why Anna was so eager to move away from home. Which is why she decided to kill the girls that night- except Cat Jones, who she wanted to kill so Anna could get her job back. 

Anna's mother also killed Anna's father and buried him in the garden of their house. At the end of the book, she appears to be plotting to kill Priya, Jack's coworker.

Comments

Popular Posts