A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing #BookReview #PsychologicalThriller

From the bestselling author of My Lovely Wife comes a reckless, delicious thriller that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They’ve never felt anything like it. It’s the type of romance people write stories about. But what kind of story?

When it’s good, it’s great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears. When it’s bad, it’s really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconciliations needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy—and she’s a detective.

There’s something Wes and Ivy never talk about—in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead. If they can stick together, they can survive anything—even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…

What’s it about (in a nutshell):

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing is just what the title says – a twisted love story that is every inch a psychological thriller, plus part mystery and a tiny part police procedural.

My Reading Experience:

This story has two very distinct parts (even though they aren’t marked as such). The first half sets the stage and introduces the reader to all of the players, and the second half settles down and focuses on a death and the discovery of who did it and how.

I grew frustrated and confused with the first half as I wondered where the story was trying to go and why I wanted to go there with it. The second half, however, was more to my liking. It’s focused and fast-paced and has so many delightful twists and turns.

I loved the portrayal of Wes and Ivy’s relationship, in a thriller story regard, throughout the story. I’ve never experienced a connection like that, fortunately. However, still, it felt toxically authentic – sort of like a Bonnie and Clyde type of situation.

I also loved the mystery aspect once the story finally honed into what that would be. I honestly had no clue of the who or why, but it is well-developed with plenty of red herrings that ended up having more to do with who said what and why than the actual crime. Most plot threads are brought together at the end to explain all the answers to my questions.

This story is very freaky and very unique in its freakiness. I enjoyed that about it because I seldom run into thrillers that are this kind of unusual. I don’t know what to say about it other than it’s an experience. That’s the best way I can describe it.

Characters:

The story is about the relationship between Wes and Ivy, who met in college and have had an off-and-on relationship for the last ten years. Other than the relationship, though, I can’t say I learned much about them.

That was probably due to the narration style of the book because I also didn’t feel like they were two-dimensional. They felt very nuanced to me.

Narration & Pacing:

The narration is told through 4 different characters, the most minor of which is Abagail – the assistant for the sales staff at Siphon (where Wes works). Wes, Ivy, and the police detective Karen were the primary narrators. I would call all of the narrators somewhat unreliable, which added to the craziness of the story.

The pace is fast, especially in the last half of the story.

Setting:

It is set in California in a small city/large town near Sacramento. The setting doesn’t play a part in the story, but it is mentioned several times. I would have loved the setting to have more of a role in the story.

Read if you’re in the mood for:

A very mysterious, as well as dark and tense, psychological thriller
Unreliable narrators whose flaws are the focus of the story.
Toxic and unlikable characters you can’t help but root for.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Originality	8
Writing Quality	10
Pace	6
Character Development	8
‘Couldn’t Put It Down’-ness	6
Setting	10

All scores, except the overall rating, are on a scale of 1-10. The overall rating is converted to the standard 5-point system.