Fractured

Catherine McKenzie completely abandons her chick-lit background and goes for pure thriller in Fractured. The structure is intricate, with chapters alternating between the two main characters and bouncing back and forth between the present, a year ago, and multiple points in between. I'll admit that I kept turning the pages eagerly to find out what had happened – who had been arrested and what was the crime? – but once I finally learned the answer, I felt a bit hollow and unfulfilled instead of impressed by the way it all came together.

McKenzie's main characters aren't as engaging as in previous novels, in part because we have to keep them at arm's length until we know if they are trustworthy or not (or even alive at the end of the book). But even without that limitation, there's just something missing. Julie Prentice is running from something in her past, but she makes bad choices so often it's difficult to feel sorry for her. I had a similar reaction to her neighbor John Dunbar, who has a successful wife and two teenaged kids and a vague air of unhappiness that can feel creepy when he interacts with Julie. So at the end of the book when one of the main characters wonders if they were innocent or guilty, it's not easy to answer, but it's not that easy to care either.

I was a big fan of McKenzie's earlier, more character-driven books, including Spin, Arranged, and Smoke, but if she's jumping on the thriller bandwagon it's time for me to move on to other authors and say thanks for the memories.

I received an ARC of the book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.