Clarissa doesn't want Rafe's attention. She doesn't want his affection. She certainly doesn't want his gifts. And yet Rafe will not leave Clarissa be. He's everywhere - waiting for her outside her apartment, following her around... he always seems to know exactly where to find her. In spite of her insistence that he leave her alone, Rafe persists in pursuing Clarissa. And now Clarissa is scared. All of the statistics show that things will get worse but how is Clarissa to protect herself when even the police claim no crime has been committed. A seven week stint on a jury case offers her some relief, but when the case turns out to be too close to home Clarissa realizes just how precarious her safety really is.
This is yet another book I've really been excited about getting to, in part because it's a debut. I love discovering new authors and this one sounded particularly intriguing. Plus, British psychological suspense is almost always a good choice for me.
The Book of You is told in two parts - one through journal entries written by Clarissa, outlining Rafe's behavior. These are interspersed throughout the day to day narrative of the trial (and generally outline Rafe's stalking of the day). So The Book of You really is the book of you - Rafe - as told by Clarissa. The point of her journal is to catalog all of her run ins with him as evidence to hopefully make a case against him.
Kendal does an excellent job bringing Clarissa's fears and frustrations convincingly to life here. In fact, I found it quite hard not to get too emotionally tied into the story. Claire attempts to call the police and is told that unless a crime has occurred there's nothing they can do to help. As Rafe's stalking escalates not only does she become more frightened and frustrated but I as the reader did as well. It makes The Book of You a pretty disturbing read to be quite honest.
The Book of You does remind me just a bit of Elizabeth Haynes's Into the Darkest Corner, enough so I feel comfortable saying that if you enjoyed her debut you should definitely give Claire Kendal's book a read.
Rating: 4/5
5 comments:
I, too, thought it was similar to Into the Darkest Corner, but unique enough to stand on its own. I'm still getting over just how eerie this book was!
I will say that this kind of theme creeps me out more than anything else I have a tendency to read!
This book hit very close to home for me, and the author did a fantastic job in keeping it very real!
I can only imagine how scary this situation must have been for Clarissa ... I can't wait to see how things turn out!
Thanks for being on the tour.
I LOVED this book too! And I TOTALLY agree - I LOVED, LOVED Into the Darkest Corner and fans of that one will definitely dig into this one - it's got that same suspenseful feel and strong heroine. :) [Albeit going through some trials!]
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