Verity
Title: Verity
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published: 7th December 2018
Genre: Thriller, Romance, Suspense, Fiction
Pages: 336
Start Date: 31st August 2022
Finish Date: 31st August 2022
Summary
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.
Review
Verity is the first Colleen Hoover book I have read, and it did not disappoint! It had me hooked from start to finish.
That ending. What the hell? If I could just shake my head to dissolve the memory of it, to disarrange it somehow, I would. Because of all the things I’d braced myself for, that was not it.
Verity is the first book I have read that is a thriller, I thought it wouldn't be my type of book but now I am excited to read more thrillers! Verity was not what I expected, I picked the book up with a lot of scepticism, but this book has lived up to its hype!
It is such a clever book, it is a mind-bending whirlwind of a book. The plot is a hall of mirrors where everything is a vacant reflection, including the people who live there. Colleen Hoover draws you into a world where illusion informs reality, and time enfolds hauntingly. She flaunts her unreliable characters to the extraordinary effect: confounding, disturbing and delighting in turn.
The sheer energy threaded within the books, how it feels uncontrollable yet it is perfectly under control by Colleen Hoover. I love the way Colleen Hoover makes you feel Lowe's deep-skin unease and confusion as if it is your own. You can feel the danger pulsing all around, and while you can scarcely see the freshly hideous future taking shape ahead, you can feel it all the same.
Lowe's life is in shambles, she has just lost her mum, she is broke, she is on the brink of eviction and even though she is a talented author, the crippling anxiety involved with marketing herself to fans has made her work less than popular. So, when she is offered an opportunity to good to pass up she grabbed it by the horns. Jeremy, the husband of successful author Verity Crawford, hires Lowe to complete Verity's series when his injured wife is unable to do so. But, it is not that straightforward. Lowe discovers an unfinished manuscript that looks to be Verity's autobiography. When we were reading to the manuscript with Lowe I was honestly horrified. I couldn't believe a mother could do that to her own children!
The ending, threw me backwards I was in shock and I am still recovering from it now. Verity offers its readers no solidity of truth that they could hold in their hands. I honestly read the last chapter 20 times mining for clues, trying to make sense of something that just doesn't make sense. At the end of it, I felt that everything I have read was just like a false memory.
I cannot believe this is Colleen Hoover's first thriller. Reading this feels like watching a master at their craft, setting the bar higher than I ever thought possible. This story is so astonishing and unsettling and completely original. It will stay with me for a long time.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️